


Keeper of Time

by SuperNamu



Category: B.A.P, EXO (Band), Infinite (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Drama, Dystopia, M/M, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:56:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 144,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2081145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperNamu/pseuds/SuperNamu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Woohyun was just your average twenty-one year old male working in a local coffee shop. His life was going by normally yet boring till an earthquake hit his small town. He was caught up in the middle of the disaster and fell to his untimely death. Or at least that is what he thought. He awakens to find himself in a new city, an unfamiliar environment, a different time period.</p><p>Woohyun is forced to join a resistance group dubbed the name INFINITE that fights back against the corrupted government who kills and experiments on its own people in the name of science. Throw in some blood, guts, and tears, not to mention some love triangles, a twisted and sick society, a magical accessory that lets you travel through time, and a twisted up family tree, and you have yourself one hell of an adventure.</p><p>There’s just one thing Woohyun regrets doing, though: wishing for something dangerous and risky to happen to him upon a star.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on AFF (still is posted on AFF). I will be updating on here and on AFF

The young man sighed as he adjusted himself in his seat. He examined the room he occupied. Everything was white. The bed was white; the walls were white; the ceiling and floor were white; the machinery was white as well. The smell of anesthetics infiltrated his nose. A constant beeping noise rang throughout the room.

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep_

The young man frowned, irritated by the beeping of the heart monitor.

God, he hated hospitals with a  _vengeance_.

His eyes fell upon the old woman who occupied the hospital bed in front of him. The woman’s breathing was small and labored. She clenched and unclenched her bed sheets. Various wires and other medical supplies adorned her body. Some were injected into her pale skin while others were just taped on, monitoring her heart beats.

The young man fidgeted in his chair. His legs were restless. He was bored. He had been sitting in this  _same_  chair, in this  _same_  room, in this  _same_  building for the past four hours. The young man wasn’t a happy camper.

“Woohyun…” a frail voice brought said man out of his irritated mood. The young man, now known as Woohyun, quickly stood up and rushed over to the bed. He sat on the edge, grabbing on to the old woman’s bony hands.

“I’m here, Mom,” he rubbed smoothing circles in to her hands, comforting her, letting her know that he has been by her side for a long time.

“You’re here,” his mother opened her eyes, staring into space. “Why are you here?”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. He and his mother have never been on good terms. “I got a call earlier. They said you collapsed at home. They also… said that–”

“That I don’t have much time left. I know.” They were silent for a while. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts.

“I thought you were doing good…” Woohyun whispered. Although their relationship was rocky, he still loved his mother just like how any man should love the person who gave birth to them.

“We aren’t immortal, Woohyun. No one can live forever. The doctor told us a long time ago that I wouldn’t have–” A cough erupted from her. She was talking too much. Her lungs wouldn’t allow her to speak for so long.

She cleared her throat after her coughing fit. She continued, “I remembered he said, ‘Bae Suji! You only have two years left… Five, if you’re lucky!’” She flailed her arms around, poorly imitating the doctor who told her how long she had to live.

She sounded  _nothing_  like him.

“Mom, calm down before you rupture an artery or something,” Suji lowered her arms, growing quiet.

Woohyun stayed in his spot on the bed next to her for a while, enjoying the silence between the two. He took this chance to examine his mother one last time before he lost her forever.

She was extremely pale. Deathly pale… She lost a lot of weight after she grew ill. Her bones protruded everywhere, forcing her skin to stretch. Her cheeks slightly caved in, making her cheek bones look sharp and prominent. But not in a good way.

“Woohyun, let me tell you a little story.”

“Mom,” Woohyun groaned. If there was one thing he hated most in the world, it was his mother’s stories of her past, her childhood. They never made sense, and he was pretty sure that nothing like the stories she told actually happened to her.

Come on, wars, a corrupted government killing their own people, experimenting on their own people, resistance groups trying to win their country back, super human soldiers and armies,  _time traveling_ … Like any of that stuff was believable, especially the last one, right?

_Time travel!_  Woohyun mentally scoffed at the thought.

His mother is about eighty years old–or at least Woohyun thinks she is (she's actually fifty)–and if she was telling the truth about some big old war that happened when she was kid, then wouldn’t his generation still be recovering from it?

Last time Woohyun checked, a war in his country hasn’t taken place for over four centuries.

“You know how I was part of the resistance, right?” His mother began. Apparently, Suji was a part of some resistance group in her time.  _Apparently_ , she did a lot of reconnaissance work.

“Mom, can we not do this? We don’t have much–” The glare Suji gave him.  _If looks could kill…_

“The leader of my group,” she sighed. “He was so handsome. I never loved another man like I did him. I knew him since I was a kid. He was always there for me, watching out for me, protecting me. I always dreamed that once we saved the country, we would get married and have many kids,” Suji sighed again, closing her eyes.

“What happened to this guy?” Woohyun decided to play along and listen to her story one last time.

“I don’t really know. The government found our hideout one evening, and they killed a lot of our men. Our leader, he got hurt badly. You see, one of our guys was actually a mole. He had been working for our enemies the entire time. It made sense why they always seemed to be one step ahead of us whenever we attempted to infiltrate their headquarters.

“During this attack, they took several of us. They captured our people and threw them into vans, taking them back to their labs to experiment on,” she pulled her hand out of Woohyun’s grip and placed it over her heart. “I was one of them.”

“What did they do to you?” Woohyun was fully into her story now. She always talked about her missions, and the things she came across in her life. But she  _never_  actually talked about her life in the group, and why she wasn’t in it anymore.

“Just like what they did to several innocent people out there, they experimented on me. They injected many drugs and liquids into my system. I think they were trying to create some sort of super human. Something they could use against their enemies.

“I don’t know how long I was cooped up in there. For a long time I’m sure… I remember, one day, they switched their tactics. They stopped giving me drugs and started putting me through these tests of some sort. They were trying to perfect time traveling.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes at the word. That was one subject his mother constantly mentioned in her stories.

“You know how I’ve been telling you how time travel was possible in my time? We were able to go back a few minutes or seconds, but not actual decades or centuries. Not over eight hundred years in the past or future,” Suji coughed. All this talking was starting to gravely affect her. If this continued, she wouldn’t last for another hour. “Something went wrong with the test. There was an earthquake. It destroyed half of the building. The cracks formed everywhere, and below within those cracks some sort wormhole was created. I fell into the hole, and I woke up here in this time. Fifty eight hundred years into the past.”

“Time travel,” Woohyun concluded. Suji nodded.

“I never saw him again… I did everything in my power to figure out a way to get back home, but nothing ever worked. You know, I told him how I felt before...”

“What did he say?”

“…he was in love with someone…”

“What then?”

“I gave up trying to find a way back home. I eventually met your father and then had you and your brother. And now we’re here,” Suji gestured to the room they were in.

Woohyun sighed, standing up. He walked over to the nearby window. He leaned against the window sill, gazing into the outside world.

“He was so handsome,” Suji repeated. “My leader, my savior…” Woohyun tuned her out as Suji continued her ranting.

“My love, how I miss you...”

Her voice lowered.

“ _Sunggyu…”_

The heart monitor flat lined.


	2. Wishes Can Be Risky

Woohyun crouched down, placing a bouquet of flowers next to a headstone.

Chrysanthemums.

They were his mother’s favorites.

It had been a blustery day: the day of his mother’s funeral. Not too many people came for the service, barely any. It was just Woohyun, a few of his mother’s neighbors, and a small group of nurses that took care of Suji in the hospital after she grew ill. They were all gone now, though. It was just Woohyun now.

He gently pushed the bouquet of flowers against the grave, hoping that it wouldn’t fly away in the wind. Woohyun couldn’t really pinpoint how he felt at the moment. He was gravely upset that his mother was gone, completely and utterly out of his life. But he was also relieved at the same time. Not because she was a nuisance or because they never really got along, but because she didn’t have to suffer anymore. He didn’t like to see his mother in constant pain, so when he heard the heart monitor's flat line, he just idly stood by the side, mentally bidding his mother goodbye one last time.

Woohyun was also extremely upset over the fact that his older brother didn’t come. He knew there was a very,  _very_ small chance that he would, but Woohyun kept hoping that Boohyun, his brother, would put aside his differences with his mother and at least visit her grave. Woohyun’s relationship with his mother was nothing compared to the relationship between his mother and brother. They  _always_  fought over the littlest of things. His mother always said he got his arguing skills from their father.

The arguments got so bad between the two that one day when Woohyun came home from school–he was in middle school while Boohyun just recently graduated from high school–all of his brother’s things were gone. It was as if he had never lived there in the first place. He found his mother sitting alone in the kitchen crying. Not long after he left, Woohyun and Suji would start to argue over little things as well, though they would make up in the end.

Boohyun would sometimes visit, only to see how Woohyun was doing, and sometimes he would take him out for dinner or just a fun trip to the mall. However, at the end of the day, he would drop Woohyun off back at home and leave again, not even muttering a single word to Suji.

On one of those very visits while Woohyun was complaining about the recent argument he had with his mother, his brother asked Woohyun if he would like to live with him. Woohyun was surprised at the offer. He never knew where Boohyun lived–he assumed not too far if he was willing to drive everywhere.

Woohyun was only sixteen when Boohyun asked that. He actually wouldn’t mind living with him, but he couldn’t just leave his mother, right? He loved his mother, and he always told himself he would never leave her like how his father and brother did. He wouldn’t suddenly die from an aneurysm and leave his family like his dad did, and he wouldn’t get completely fed up with his mom and move out without a word like his brother did. Woohyun didn’t have the heart to do that to his mom. She was already alone as it is.

And Woohyun told his brother just that, declining his offer. Boohyun bitterly smiled at him and remained quiet for the rest of the day. That evening when he dropped Woohyun off at home, he tightly hugged Woohyun and told him he loved him and that he would always be there for him. Then he left like always.

But it wasn’t like  _always_ , though.

Boohyun never came back. He never heard his older brother’s voice again. Woohyun tried calling him, asking his brother’s friends if they’ve seen him, but no one has. It was almost as if Boohyun never existed in the first place.

Or how Suji would say, “It’s almost as if he fell into a wormhole and  _time traveled._ ”

Woohyun stood up, dusting the invisible dirt off of his pants. He raised his arms into the air, stretching them up above. He noticed that the sky was starting to turn a pale tint of orange, indicating that the sun was setting.

He bid goodbye to his mother’s grave one last time and left.

* * *

 

“Dude, I’m sorry for your loss,” someone apologized. Woohyun stopped cleaning the countertop and turned around. His boss, Eli Kim, was standing there, frowning slightly. His eyes shone with pity and remorse.

“Nah, it’s okay. She has been sick for a while,” Woohyun turned back around and continued cleaning. “At least her suffering is over.” He rubbed the same spot on the counter over and over again.

Eli ran a hand through his spikey blond hair, sighing lightly. He has been watching his employee scrub that same spot for a while now. There’s absolutely no way that that spot could still be dirty. It’s also absolutely obvious that Woohyun was still mourning for his mother.

“Go home, Woohyun.”

“What? Why?” Woohyun turned back to Eli incredulously.

“You’re creating an extremely dark and depressing atmosphere.”

“How? I’m just doing my job!” Woohyun crossed his arms; his eyebrows furrowed at the accusation.

“This is a coffee shop, Woohyun. Your job is to make coffee and/or some desserts in the back.” He pointed to the rag in Woohyun’s hand, “Not to clean the same damn spot for two hours.”

“But–”

“Go home.”

“Please–”

“Woohyun, your mom just died a few days ago. You need to take time to mourn her.”

“I am!”

“Don’t do it here!” Eli complained.

“Why?”

“Just look around, Woohyun.  _This is a coffee shop._  This place is usually loud and lively,” Eli gestured to his shop.

Woohyun surveyed the shop. Eli was right. Everyone was quiet, looking somberly. The lights seemed a bit dimmed too, giving off a gloomy ambience, even his other co-workers looked morose. Woohyun grew quiet as he realized that Eli was right. His depressing attitude was making the shop and everyone else look slightly glum.

He turned back to his boss, “Who’s going to take over my shift?”

“I’ll get Kevin or Kiseop to do it.” Woohyun nodded and took off his apron. He gave his rag to Eli and walked into the back room of the coffee shop to gather his things that were in his locker. He stuffed his apron into it and grabbed his bag. He glanced at the mirror inside during the process.

He looked like a mess. His short brown hair was all over the place–

_Why didn’t anyone mention that I looked terrible today?!_

–He had dark circles under his eyes. Speaking of eyes, they were blood shot. He hadn’t really been getting a lot of good sleep since Suji died. Woohyun frowned. He gently ran his fingers through his tousled hair.

“Woohyun,” he heard his boss call him from the main room of the shop. Woohyun inspected himself in the mirror one more time before closing his locker shut, leaving the back room.

“I want you to take the rest of the week off, okay? Don’t come back till Monday,” Eli ordered when he saw his employee approach him. Woohyun simply nodded, knowing that there was no way to win an argument with the man.

“See you on Monday, Sir,” he waved to his co-workers as he left the small local coffee shop.

* * *

 

The night sky was as clear as Woohyun’s skin complexion as he walked home. He tried to think of what he might possibly do for the rest of the week. Eli forced him to not come back to work till next Monday. It was only Tuesday.

The streets were deserted as Woohyun turned a corner. He noticed a small star grace itself across the sky. It was a shooting star.

Woohyun stood still for a moment, closing his eyes. He didn’t believe that wishes that were made upon stars actually came true, but it didn’t hurt to try.

 _Let’s see. What do I want?_  He crossed his arms, seriously attempting to figure out what to wish for. He only got one chance and if, somehow, this wish came true, he would want it to be worth it.

 _I wish… for something to help me quickly get over my mom’s death… WAIT! No! Don’t take that wish!_ He thought that was a good wish, but he quickly decided that that wasn’t worth wishing for. He would eventually get over Suji’s death and move on with time.

Woohyun groaned as he continued thinking. Trying to figure out what you want to wish for shouldn’t be this hard, right? He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He felt stupid for pondering this hard on a wish.

 _How boring and uneventful is my life if I need to take this long to think–WAIT! That’s it!_ Woohyun clasped his hands tightly together against his chest.

_Okay, so Mr. Shooting Star, if I can re-wish my wish, then I wish for something cool a-and risky and… dangerous to happen to my life! This existence of mine is boring! I need something fun or… something interesting to happen to me. …Well, it doesn’t have to be necessarily fun, but it should be something that doesn’t really happen often. Maybe like winning the lott–_

Someone crashed into Woohyun before he could even finish the wish. He fell on his butt with a loud thud. He slightly looked up and came face-to-face with his ‘assailant’ who was on his knees in front of Woohyun. Well, you couldn’t really call it face-to-face since the ‘crasher’ had a hood on, covering majority of it. Before Woohyun could even react, the ‘aggressor’ quickly got up and ran away, muttering a small apology.

Woohyun watched the person run away with mild curiosity before he realized what he was just doing, “Hey! Get back here!” He quickly stood up, waving his fist in the air, “You made me mess up my wish! You owe me a wish!” He yelled to the retreating figure.

He would’ve chased the ‘crasher’ if something on the ground didn’t quickly grab his attention. It sparkled in the moonlight that shoned from behind him. He crouched down and picked it up.

It was a small, silver necklace. It was in the shape of the ‘Infinity’ symbol. Woohyun looked up, seeing if his ‘attacker’ was still in his eyesight. He assumed that the necklace belonged to he/she.

That person was long gone, though. Woohyun’s gaze fell upon the necklace again. He felt some sort of invisible force pulling him towards the necklace–which is weird alone because it’s just a small necklace.  He felt his head ache as he continued staring at the jewelry. He felt lightheaded. Woohyun lightly shook his head and removed his gaze from the item and rubbed his temples, relieving some of the pain.

It was a really nice necklace, though, and if Woohyun wasn’t such a nice person, he would have pawned it. He stuffed the item into his pocket, hoping that he would see his ‘assailant’ again in hopes of returning the necklace.

Woohyun turned around, heading home. His thoughts wandered back to what he might do for his week off.

* * *

 

Woohyun stared at his alarm clock with hatred. It read seven a.m. on the dot, rudely blasting a constant beeping noise in his face, telling him to get up. He whined when he remembered that he forgot to turn the alarm off. His head had throbbed in pain so much last night that he had forgotten to change into a pair of pajamas.  In all reality, his head still hurt, but it was not as bad. Woohyun directed his attention to the ceiling.

What was he going to do now? He woke up at the time he should be if he was going to work but… He’s not.

A stream of sunlight filtered through the curtains of his window, momentarily blinding him. He sat up cursing and proceeded to start his day early. It was very obvious that his alarm clock,  _and_  the sun wanted him awake.

He decided that maybe a nice walk outside would completely wake him up and get rid of this small headache. He quickly washed up, made himself a bagel and cream cheese and threw on another pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie. He checked himself in the mirror, deeming his look worthy enough of showing himself to the outside world.

As he walked outside in the crisp, cold morning air, he stuffed his hands in his jacket pocket. He felt something jab against his skin in the process. He pulled whatever it was out of the pocket.

It was the necklace his ‘aggressor’ had dropped last night. Maybe he could search for the person while he was out? Woohyun wrapped the necklace around his neck and aimlessly walked around. He allowed his feet to take him wherever they wanted, and the next thing Woohyun knew, he was standing on a bridge on the outskirts of town.

Not many people frequented this bridge anymore. Mainly people from out of town or just passing through would use this pathway if they were leaving by foot. However, the closest city was over two hundred miles. It would take over two days to reach it.

And so in the end, since barely anyone had used it, the city officials closed it off. The only way to get in and out of the city nowadays was by highways or some other main roads.

His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to figure out how he got there. Of all places to wander to, why here? Woohyun walked towards the edge of the bridge and leaned over. The distance between the bridge and the water below was huge. It would be instant death if he fell into the rapid waterway.

Woohyun gulped and stepped back. He wasn’t really afraid of heights, but he had to admit that it was a long drop. Woohyun still couldn’t understand why he came here, what drew him to this abandon part of town. He crossed his arms, contemplating this.

What was so special about this bridge?

Woohyun suddenly remembered that his mother once told him that this was the bridge she woke up on when she first came to this period.  Woohyun frowned at the thought. He didn’t want to be anywhere that reminded him solely of his mom. He turned around, planning to leave the area, but something caught his eye.

The infinity necklace he was wearing around his neck was  _glowing_.

“Wha–”

A sudden dense gravitational force caught Woohyun off his guard and pushed him to the ground. It wasn’t necessarily a strong push, and he wasn’t  _necessarily_ constrained to the ground, but the force of the impact onto the ground itself knocked the wind out of him.

He groaned in pain, rolling onto his back. He noticed the clouds in the sky above turned a dark shade of gray. They gathered together, leaving a small circle of the sky visible. It shined down upon him.

Woohyun sat up, rubbing his head. It ached more than before. However, whatever was going on around took precedence over the pain. The minute Woohyun attempted to stand back up, gravity pushed him back down.

The necklace glowed brighter. It somehow unhooked itself from around Woohyun and floated in mid-air in front of him. The brightness of it momentarily blinded the young man, forcing him to slightly cover his eyes.  

The ground suddenly started shaking. Cracks formed in the cement. Parts of the bridge began to collapse. Woohyun grabbed the floating necklace, stuffing it in his pocket and stood up. The gravity was still pushing against him, but he forced himself to jostle against the weight and completely stand up. It took all of his energy to just do this. He felt out of breath and extremely exhausted.

 _Okay, Mr. Shooting Star, I may had asked for something risky and dangerous to happen to me, but that didn’t mean involving me in an earthquake!_  Woohyun mentally shouted.

Oh how he wished that his alarm clock never went off this morning!

With a struggle, Woohyun attempted to quickly leave the area before the earthquake grew worse. But as fate would have it, the cracks in the ground grew larger. Woohyun felt the ground collapse beneath him.

With a cry of horror, Woohyun fell in between the cracks. He grabbed on to whatever he could. Anything he touched crumpled in his hands as he continued to fall. And soon enough, there was nothing left for Woohyun to hold on to.

The water below grew closer. Gravity pushed him faster towards it. A dreadful scream erupted from Woohyun as he fell to his death.

The moment his body hit the water, everything turned black.


	3. Year 2862 SE

Books shimmied off the shelves. Chairs fell onto their backs. Papers glided to the floor. Writing utensils rolled off the desk. Knick knacks fell on their sides.

The young man furrowed his eyebrows as he felt the ground shake around him. He couldn’t recall the last time he felt an earthquake of this magnitude.

He frowned, trying to decide if he should find a safe spot to hide at. He was actually very comfortable in his seat behind his huge desk in his nice, little office.

He was in the middle of going over very important documents. If he left now, none of the work would get done. He was already way behind schedule. His boss would  _literally_  kill him if he didn’t turn in his report of the latest failed experiments and the updated list of dead test subjects.

“Stupid earthquake,” the man whispered. He ran a trembling hand through his short, dark brown hair. “I wonder how Kris is handling the situation.” He squeezed the bridge of his nose as the tremors grew worse. They were beginning to give him a headache.

“Sir,” a short, young man busted into the room. He looked disheveled as he tried to keep himself upright.  He was out of breath. His skin was perspiring. His hair was matted to his face. It was obvious he ran all the way from the labs in the underground sections of the building.

“What’s going on?”

“You might want to take a look outside,” he attempted to smooth the crinkles out of his lab coat, making himself look presentable in front of his boss. The quake grew worse.

“Is it important? I’m trying to finish this report.”

“It  _is_. Something is going on outside. I think it has something to do with this earthquake.” He frowned as his boss regarded him with a skeptical expression. “Please,  _Suho_ …”

“Fine, but this  _better_  be good, Kyungsoo.” The other man nodded with enthusiasm in reply. He used the wall and various other objects in the room as support as he walked past his boss.

He led Suho to the balcony outside. They both held onto the railing as the quake continued.

The two scientists could hear people screaming down below. Car alarms ranged off. Small buildings and houses gradually collapsed one by one.

This was one bad earthquake. It would take forever to recover from it. Suho doubted that the government would do a single thing to help their people, though.

They never did in the past.

Why start now?

They only looked out for themselves.

_No one else._

This was one of the few times Suho was glad he worked in the government as one of the two head scientists. The constructional facility he occupied was sturdy enough to withstand an earthquake or any other natural disaster. Several other government funded buildings were still standing as well.

“Sir, look up there,” Kyungsoo was pointing to something up above.

Suho gaped at the happenings in the sky that he was witnessing.

The clouds were gone. The sun had disappeared. The sky, which was always the color of sunset no matter what time of day it was unless it was the evening, turned to a dark shade of gray. A beam of light cut through the middle, splitting the heavens in half. Lightning emitted from black hole now present in the sky.

The tremors grew worse. The wind started picking up. Suho and Kyungsoo tightened their grips on the railing as they felt the gravity shift around, tugging them towards the back hole.

“What’s going on? What is happening?!” Kyungsoo yelled over the screaming coming from the people below. It seemed that they weren’t the only ones being pulled. The scientists watched as the people who lost their battle with gravity got sucked into the black vortex in the sky. Some buildings were destroyed from the haul of gravity. Others were ripped out of the cement of the ground, rushing to the hole.

“I don’t know! It looks like a black hole!”

“But I thought they only existed in space,” Kyungsoo claimed.

“No, you idiot. A black hole can form anywhere where gravity has gotten so strong–”

“How am I supposed to know that? You’re the head scientist here!”

“You’re a scientist too, Kyungsoo! My assistant no less,” Suho rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’ll go and get Kris or Lu Han. They may know what’s–”

“If you let go of that railing, you’re going to get pulled in–”

Suddenly, everything stopped. The wind died down. The earthquake ceased. The gravity stopped tugging them towards the sky. Instead of pulling them, the gravitational force was now pushing.

The sudden force pushed both scientists to their knees. The buildings that were sucked into the hole were pushed back out, falling back to the earth, to their deaths. The black hole began to morph, forming some sort of tunnel in the sky.

Everything grew quiet suddenly.

“What’s that?” Kyungsoo whispered. He pointed to a small object that emerged from the tunnel. Suho pushed against the gravity and stood up. He squinted, trying to make out what Kyungsoo had pointed out. His eyes widen when he realized what it was.

It was a body enclosed in a beam of light. It slowly descended into the city. Suho leaned over the railing, trying to get a better look of it. He lost sight of the body as it disappeared behind one of the various buildings that weren’t destroyed by the earthquake or black hole.

“Suho…” the man turned to his assistant. The brunet was staring at the sky again. When Suho directed his attention back to the sky, the tunnel gradually faded away. Another of beam of light shot through the sky again, merging the heavens together. The sky faded to sunset, and the sun emerged.

Kyungsoo stood up, feeling the gravitational force lift off of him. He frowned, thinking about all the events that just took place. He really had no clue about what he had just experienced. “What just happened?” He asked aloud.

“I’m not really sure,” Suho shook his head, crossing his arms. “Black holes don’t spit things out. They suck them up.”

“Then what was it, Sir? I’ve never seen anything like that happen before. And you know as well as I do that we’ve seen  _a lot_  of… interesting ‘things’ in our field.” Suho and Kyungsoo glanced at each other in confusion.

* * *

 

Woohyun rolled over in his bed. Something told him to get up, but he didn’t want to. Even though his bed was quite uncomfortable, he snuggled deeper into it. The brunet reached for his pillow to keep his head comfy. Instead, he grabbed a handful of something papery. It felt almost synthetic. The young man opened his eyes. He found himself in a bed of flowers. He sat up, looking around.

He noticed he was in a small abandoned house. Dust was everywhere. The windows and doors were boarded up. The only light that shined into the room came from above. There was a gigantic hole in the roof. Presumably from where he had crashed through. The floorboards were gone and flowers and weeds took its place.

Woohyun pulled a few flowers out of the ground. It felt weird in his hands. He smelled it. There was no smell. He attempted to pull a couple of petals off. That didn’t really work out too well. They wouldn’t come off. Woohyun found himself wrestling with the flower,  _attempting_  to tug the petals off.

This continued for well over a minute till Woohyun realized that the flower wasn’t real. None of them were real. They were all synthetic and artificial. That explained why they felt papery and fake.  _Weird..._ _Who would plant a bunch of fake flowers?_

The brunet suddenly remembered what happened to him not too long ago. He quickly stood up. He was confused. He wasn't sure where he was. Didn't he die?

_The earthquake._

_The falling._

_The water._

Woohyun looked at the bed of flowers. Fake and artificial but flowers none the less. He then looked up at the stream of sunlight beaming at him.

“Am I in heaven?”

“No, you idiot!” Someone yelled. Woohyun looked to his left and saw an old man sitting in a rocking chair. He was evidently filty. He had very,  _very_ dirty blond hair and a very long and unslightly beard. He was not attractive whatsoever.

“Oh,” Woohyun was even more confused now.  _Where did he come from? Has he been there the entire time?_ “Am I in hell then?”

“Neither! You’re in my house! Who do you think you are, you damn whippersnapper?” He stood up. “Let me tell ya! Kids these days… They think they own the world…”

“What are you  _talking_  about–”

“You’re just like the rest of them, crashing into my house like this!”

“Why do you live in such a shabby looking house like this anyway?” Woohyun gestured to his surroundings. “Are you a hobo or something?” The old man looked really squalid. And Woohyun could smell him from where he was standing.

“Why you little–”

“Where am I?” Woohyun ignored the old, smelly, dirty hobo and examined his surroundings again. “If this isn’t heaven or hell, then where in the world am I? How did I not die in that earthquake?”

“Are you on drugs, boy? You’re in South Hallow. Where else would you be?”

“Well, I don’t know, maybe my hometown?” The old man glared at Woohyun.

“Are you some sort of soldier, part of that new group of super soldiers the government is making?” The old hobo walked up to Woohyun, scrutinizing the brunet. “Your clothes are weird.”

Woohyun covered his nose as the stench of the old hobo intensified. “Well, I could say the same to you, Mr. Old Hobo.”

The brunet inspected the old man’s attire. They were weird in Woohyun’s opinion. But then again that might just be due to the fact that he was just extremely dirty. He needed a shower ASAP.

The old man frowned at the name Woohyun gave him, “I am not old! I’m twenty nine for your information. My name is Park Jeongsu, but you can just call me Leeteuk. That’s what all the other kids call me these days.”

Twenty nine was old in Woohyun’s books. It didn’t really help that Leeteuk had a beard, and he kept talking to Woohyun like he was seventy or something.

“Anyway,  _Leeteuk_ , I have no clue what you’re talking about. I’m neither a super soldier nor a part of the military. I don’t even know where I am. I’ve never heard of this South Hallow. All I know is that I was taking a walk this morning, looking for this kid who ‘attacked’ me yesterday, got caught up in this freaky earthquake, fell off of a bridge, and woke up here.”

Leeteuk stared at Woohyun. He stared. And he stared.

“Why do I always attract the junkies,” Leeteuk mumbled, shaking his head. Woohyun heard and scoffed. He was no drug addict! It was not his fault his story sounded very unbelievable. “Alright, let’s start this over. Who are you, and why did you crash into my house?”

“Fine. My name is Woohyun, and I honestly have no clue why or how I crashed into your house. I already told you what happened to me before that.”

“You said you got caught up in an earthquake. The same earthquake that happened not too long ago?” Leeteuk inquired. Woohyun nodded, backing away from him a bit. The smell was getting to him.

“I guess; I was standing on a bridge in my town, an earthquake started out of nowhere, and… Oh yeah, this necklace started glowing, which was really freaky.” He forgot about the Infinity necklace. He touched his neck, seeing if the necklace was still attached to him. Woohyun frowned. He didn’t feel anything.

It was gone.

“Oh no, it’s gone,” Woohyun crouched down on the ground, searching for the necklace in the bed of flowers. “Aw, where did it go?”

“Was it precious to you?”

“Not really, but ever since I picked it up, some weird stuff have been happening to me. Where did you say I was again?”

Leeteuk gestured for Woohyun to follow as he walked to the only door that wasn’t boarded up. He opened it and pushed Woohyun outside. His eyes widen as he took in his location.

The sky was a dark shade of sunset, though from where Woohyun was standing, he could barely see the sky due to the many skyscrapers blocking it. The city was crowded and dense. Instead of driving on the streets like in his town, Woohyun saw the cars flying.  Everything looked technologically advanced. Everything seemed to be made of glass and metal, very materialistic.

Woohyun and Leeteuk were standing on a bridge. The brunet walked over to the railing and leaned over. He couldn’t see the bottom. The buildings seemed to go on and on. The only thing he could see were several other bridges like the one they were on below him, and roads on top of each other. Woohyun didn’t even want to figure out how high in the sky they were.

Woohyun noticed that several high risers and denser apartment complexes–not as big as the skyscrapers–littered the city. Some were completely demolished while others looked like they were in the process of collapsing.

“What happened here?”

“An earthquake. It hit us about a half an hour ago.”

“An earthquake did this?” People were running everywhere. Fires broke out everywhere. Cars were flying in all directions everywhere.

“It wasn’t just an earthquake. Some sort of hole formed in the sky and sucked people and buildings up, but then it suddenly spat them out. Or at least the buildings were. I was too busy making sure my place stayed in one piece to really pay attention to what was happening.”

“Where did you say I was again?” Woohyun frowned.

“South Hallow. You’re really not from around here, are you?”

Woohyun nodded, “I never seen something like this before. The city I’m from is big too but not as big as this… I’ve never even heard of South Hallow before.” Woohyun walked forward a bit, avoiding the frantic people running everywhere. Leeteuk followed. “Everything is so… futuristic looking…”

“Well, of course. It’s the year 2862 SE. The end of the century is coming soon, and the government is trying to keep up with other countries–technology wise.” Woohyun’s eyes widened at Leeteuk’s words.

“What? What year did you say it was?” Woohyun grabbed Leeteuk by the collar of his dirty… er… Well, Woohyun wasn’t really sure what he just grabbed.

Leeteuk put his hands up in defense, “What? All I said was that it was the year 2862 SE. You should know that.”

“It can’t be!” He released the dirty blond hobo. “But it’s supposed to be 2012... 2012 CE…” Woohyun was officially freaking out.

“2012? That was like over five thousand years ago,” Leeteuk was starting to regret talking to Woohyun.

“How is this even possible? I was still taking a walk this morning,” Woohyun started flailing his arms in the air. “This is impossible! It’s supposed to be 2012! Is this a prank or something?!”

“Woah, calm down, kid. You might get the police's attention, and that’s something you don’t want. Trust me.”  

Woohyun ignored him, “This is just a dream, right?” He pinched himself. He flinched at the pain. He guess it wasn’t. “Are Yonghwa and his friends playing another prank on me?” He looked to Leeteuk for the answers.

“I have no clue who or what you’re talking about, kid.”

“Are you  _sure_  that the year is 2862 SE? It’s not 2012  _CE_? What is SE?”

“SE stands for second era. It’s 2862 Second Era or in your case–since you’re mentioning CE–it’s 7862 CE. When our country lost the war back in 4998 CE or whatever, our conquerors changed everything, even how we refer to the time and year. They switched everything to SE a couple of years later and made the year-numbering system start over. Or at least that’s what I remembering learning in school. Anyway, that’s why it’s only 2862 when in reality it should be 7862 or something.”

Woohyun looked at Leeteuk incredulously. “This cannot be happening,” he repeated.

“Woohyun, are you sick?” Leeteuk suddenly asked.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Ever since you crashed into my house, you’ve been spouting nonsense. You’re staying you’re from 2012 CE, another  _time period_. You wear weird clothes. You’re yelling and flailing your arms all over the place, attracting unnecessary attention–which we don’t want! You said you fell off a bridge, falling to your death. Yet you’re here, standing right in front of me.  Are you a mental patient?”

“What? No! It’s just that none of this is making sense, Leeteuk! I woke up this morning in the year 2012 and now I’m here in the year…”

“2862.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you  _time traveled_?”

“I didn’t say that–”  _Time travel?_  Woohyun thought.  _I time traveled… Just like what my mom claimed happened to her..._ Woohyun started freaking out at the thought that he might have actually time traveled.

Leeteuk noticed that Woohyun started hyperventilating. “Woah, calm down, kid!”

“C-Calm down? Do you understand what’s happening?! I wake up to find myself in another town! I’m not even in my own  _time period_! None of this makes sense!”

“You need to breathe, kid. Come on, let’s sit down over there,” he gestured to a random bench not too far from them.

When they sat down, Woohyun sighed and ran his hands through his hair.  _What am I going to do? None of this makes sense? How did I even end up here? I was supposed to die… Unless–_

“It’s that damn shooting stars fault! And that kid too!” Woohyun stood up, startling Leeteuk.

“What are you spouting about now?” He frowned.

“Last night, I made a wish to Mr. Shooting Star–”

“ _Mr. Shooting Star_?” Woohyun nodded.  _Is this kid for real?_  Leeteuk thought.

“Yeah, and I told him that I wanted something risky and dangerous to happen to me. Something that wouldn’t normally happen in my life. I was going to say something like winning the lottery, but this jerk ran into me, messing up the flow of my wish. And now I’m sure it’s their fault. If that jerk didn’t ‘attack’ me, Mr. Shooting Star would had heard the rest of my wish, and I wouldn’t had ended up in this crazy place.” Woohyun threw his arms in the air in frustration. He was frustrated with the situation. He was frustrated with this new world and time period he found himself in. He was frustrated with  _Mr. Shooting Star_  and his ‘assailant.’ And he was extremely frustrated with the smell emitting from Leeteuk. It was giving him a headache.

“Hey, listen. Before this earthquake hit us, I was waiting for a friend. He should be here in any second. How about you come with us, and we can help you. It’s obvious you must’ve have hit your head during the quake. My friends can help you. We take in and help the weak.”

“I didn’t hit my head! I’m not crazy! I’m telling you, Mr. Shooting Star and my ‘crasher’ are at fault here.”

Before Leeteuk could respond, someone interrupted them.

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” Woohyun saw someone in black trousers, a white button up shirt and a tie with a black blazer on top. Some sort of emblem was etched into the blazer. The man looked like a police officer, or at least the closet one would look like as a police officer in this world/time period. Woohyun was too busy eyeing the emblem to respond to the man.

“Nothing, sir,” Leeteuk bowed. “We were just, uh, talking.”

“Talking, huh? I got a call that a couple of guys were disturbing the public.”

“Disturbing?” Woohyun decided to finally listen. “There’s like no one over here.” Woohyun gestured to their surroundings. It was pretty empty now.

“That doesn’t matter. If you continue making trouble, I’m going to have to arrest you.” Leeteuk paled at the consequence.

“Arrest us? For talking? For making trouble? Listen, buddy,” Woohyun poked the man in the chest. “I’ve been having a pretty bad day so far, and I don’t feel like taking crap from you. We’re not bothering anyone! I highly doubt anyone walked up to you to tell you we were too loud. How about you leave us alone and do your fucking job somewhere else!” Woohyun was breathing heavily from his outburst.

The policeman frowned at the brunet. Leeteuk stared at Woohyun like he was a madman. The policeman reached behind him and pulled out his walkie-talkie, “Code red! Code red! We have a pair of terrorist, terrorizing the people. I repeat, we have a pair of terrorist terrorizing the people. I’m near Cottage Avenue and Merry Creek Farms. It’s near the abandoned children’s home.”

“WHAT?!” Woohyun and Leeteuk screamed.

“Terrorist?! We are no terrorist!” Woohyun exclaimed

“Why am I associated with him?!” Leeteuk demanded.

“You just brutally attacked a police officer. You are officially an enemy of South Hallow,” the officer took out some sort of weird looking device. He aimed it at Woohyun and pressed a button, causing light to flash out of it. “Your face is now all over the city, alerting everyone that you are a terrorist. Now put your hands up in the air!” He pulled a gun out, pointing it at Woohyun and then at Leeteuk, and then aiming it at Woohyun again.

“Fuck! Look at what you and your big mouth did! You attacked a police officer!” Leeteuk yelled, raising his hands.

“What are you talking about?! You were just standing right here! I didn’t attack him! All I did was poke him!” Woohyun refused to raise his hand in the air. He crossed them instead.

“I said put your hands in the air!” The officer cocked the gun, readying it.

“I refuse! You can’t accuse people of things they didn’t do! What kind of system is this if you arrest everyone that looks like trouble to you! You should be fired–”

The policeman pulled the trigger. The bullet flew through the air swiftly, nearly hitting Woohyun. It grazed the side of his cheek, randomly striking something behind him.

Woohyun cried in pain as he pressed a hand against his cheek. He could feel blood trickle down this cheek. Even though it didn’t actually hit him, it still hurt like hell.

“Now this is the last time I’ll say this: put your hands up in the air!”

Leeteuk took the liberty of raising the hand Woohyun wasn’t using to cover his cheek up in the air. Suddenly, sirens were heard in the distance, alerting them that back-up would be here in any second.

“Shit,” Leeteuk whispered. “L, where are you? This would be a good time to show up–”

“Hey, officer! You’re aiming your gun at the wrong troublemakers,” someone called out.

Before anyone could figure out where the voice came from, a bullet shot out of nowhere, blasting the police officer’s head off clean. Woohyun gasped as he felt blood splatter on him. His eyes widen as he watch the now headless policeman fall to the ground.

“Sorry I’m late, old man,” a man apologized. Woohyun looked up and saw a young man with black hair covering his forehead, semi-thick eyebrows, and a straight and sharp nose approach them. He was wearing white pants held up by a belt, a white long sleeve top with a brown belted jacket covering the shirt, and a white scarf on top.

He looked hot to Woohyun.

But not in the ‘good looking’ way.

More so in the ‘it’s way too hot outside to be wearing something ridiculous like that’ way.

He had a semi-auto slung on his back and a short barrel pistol in his hand.

“How many times do I have to tell you, L?! I’m not an old man! I’m not even thirty yet.” Anyone above the age of twenty five was old in L’s books.

“Whatever, let’s go before we gain any more attention. You got what the Boss asked?” Leeteuk nodded and magically pulled something out of–Woohyun still wasn’t exactly sure what the man was wearing– his, uh, jacket (?) pocket. It was a brown envelope. It looked like it weighed a ton.

“Good. Let’s…” L finally noticed Woohyun standing next to Leeteuk. “Who’s this?”

“Oh yeah, this is Woohyun. He crashed through the roof into my house after the quake. He seems like trouble, and he's a little  _crazy_.” He whispered the last part to L. Of course, Woohyun heard him and glared at the older man. “It’s his fault we were confronted by the police. He brutally attacked the man.” L furrowed his eyebrows at the accusation.

“What?! No I didn’t! All I did was poke him!” Woohyun exclaimed.

“I promised that we would take him back with us and get him some help. He really needs it. He thinks he’s been  _time traveling!_ ” L’s eyes widened at the mention of ‘time traveling.’ He eyed Woohyun with suspicion.

Woohyun on the other hand, lost interest in their conversation and stared at the dead police officer. He had never seen a dead body before. Well, his mother didn’t count.

The police sirens got louder.

“We’ll deal with him and his issues later. We need to get out of here!” L gestured the pair to a dark alleyway not too far from them. “We need to take the back roads if we want to avoid the police. Let’s go.” L ran off with Leeteuk following behind. Woohyun stood still.

“What is happening?” Woohyun repeated. He frowned. The fact that he wasn’t home, that he was in a different world, a different time period was starting to sink in. He was scared.

“Hey! What are you doing? We need to go!” Leeteuk ran back to him, shaking him out of his thoughts. Woohyun gave him an unreadable expression. “What’s wrong? Does your cheek hurt? We’ll get it cleaned when we return back to the headquarters.”

“That’s not it,” Woohyun whispered. Leeteuk raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue.

“C’mon! You two can talk later!” L yelled. He was impatiently waiting for them to catch up.

“Like he said, we can talk about this later.” Leeteuk grabbed Woohyun by the hand, forcing him to follow. They caught up to L and proceeded to follow him to their headquarters.

* * *

 

“Maybe it wasn’t a black hole,” Suho murmured, walking back into his office. Kyungsoo followed. “With its actions and the form, it must’ve morphed into something else.

Kyungsoo watched his boss walk around in circles, muttering to himself. When Suho was like this, speaking in incoherent sentences, it was best to just leave him alone.

“…Probably around the time… Hm, maybe that’s why… That body… Why the light, though? Unless… The tunnel was actually–”

“It was a wormhole, correct?” A new voice concluded. Both scientists looked up to find a young man standing in the doorway. He was wearing black trousers with a tucked in white button up shirt. The sides of his hair were slightly shaved while the rest was dyed red. He had his hands in his pants pockets as he leaned against the door frame.

“Sir!” Both scientists slightly bowed.

“Answer my question,  _Joonmyun_ ,” the red head ordered. Suho frowned as he was addressed by his real name.

“I’m not really sure, sir, but somehow that black hole–if it was one–morphed into a wormhole.”

“A wormhole?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Well, in physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of space time that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through space time. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider space time visualized as a two-dimensional surface. The theory of general relativity predicts that if traversable wormholes exist, they could allow time travel. This would be accomplished by accelerating one end of the wormhole to a high velocity relative to the other, and then sometime later bringing it back; relativistic time dilation would result in the accelerated wormhole mouth aging lesser than the stationary one as seen by an external observer, similar to what is seen in the twin paradox. However, time connects differently through the wormhole than outside it, so that synchronized clocks at each mouth will remain synchronized to someone traveling through the wormhole itself, no matter how the mouths move around. This means that anything which entered the accelerated wormhole mouth would exit the stationary one at a point in time prior to its entry.”

Kyungsoo and their boss stared at Suho with confusion.

“Um, through wormholes, it’s possible to time travel,” Suho tried to put his explanation in simpler terms. “And I believe the black hole that formed in the sky morphed into a wormhole. And the body that Kyungsoo and I–”

“Yes, I saw a body fall out of the hole as well,” their boss confirmed.

“It’s highly impossible for stuff to come out of a black hole. But for a wormhole, it can. So that body that came out of the hole was…” Suho trailed off, forcing himself to shut up. He didn’t feel like ranting about Raychaudhuri's theorem and exotic matter.

“Well, if what Joonmyun is saying is correct, it seems that we have ourselves a time traveler,” the man smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for those who may not know what they mean, CE as in 2012 CE means Common Era. It's another way of saying AD . BCE means Before Common Era. So in this story, SE means Second Era.


	4. There's a Difference Between Poking and Hitting

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long they had been walking, but all he did know was that his feet were killing him. He had never walked this much in his life before. It aggravated him to no end.

A part of him still couldn’t believe that he had actually time traveled. He couldn’t completely come to terms with that fact. Another part of him thought that maybe this was all just a very, very bad dream. Maybe he  _was_  involved in an earthquake, and he survived, but he was injured badly and fell into a coma.  _Maybe_  he really did die, and he was officially stuck in oblivion or purgatory, waiting for his soul to prepare itself for the next stage of the afterlife or reincarnation.

But then again, Woohyun didn’t really believe in that stuff.

If none of this was  _real,_ the earthquake, the time traveling, the almost getting arrested by a psychotic cop, the smelly, old hobo–Leeteuk–then he shouldn’t be able feel any sort of pain, right? Having that bullet graze against his cheek was just an illusion, right? His mind conjured up the pain to make it seem like all of this was real,  _right?_

_None of this was real, right?_

Several thoughts like these ran through Woohyun’s brain. He came to the conclusion that none of this truly happened, and all of this was just a figment of his imagination.

Maybe he really was on drugs like Leeteuk kept insisting.

If none of this was real, then he could tell his brain that all of the pain he felt emitting from his wound on his cheek wasn’t real. If he were to fall down at the moment, he would feel nothing. If he were to–

L and Leteeuk suddenly stopped walking when they heard a crash from behind. When they turned around, they saw Woohyun spread out on the ground, whining in pain. It seemed that he had tripped.

Woohyun groaned as he stood up, dusting off his pants. His face was slightly flushed from embarrassing himself in front of his newly-made acquaintances. He guessed that all of this  _was_  real if the pain he was feeling from the fall indicated anything.

A quiet snicker could be heard from L as he turned back around to lead the way. Leeteuk frowned at Woohyun. They both continued following L.

“It’s a shame what drugs can do to a kid your age,” Leeteuk mused, shaking his head. “You look like the smart and intelligent type. It’s really a shame you wasted your life on narcotics and such.”

“What  _are_  you talking about? How many times do I have to tell you I’m not on drugs?! And stop acting like you’ve known me for a long time! You know nothing about me.”

“True, but I know enough to tell you that you need some serious help. I know a few rehabilitation programs that work with people like you–”

“Where are you getting this all from? I don’t understand why you continue to think I’m on something,” Woohyun was starting to get fed up with Leeteuk. He crossed his arms, stopping in his tracks.

“Why?” Leeteuk turned to him, stopping as well. “Isn’t it obvious?” Woohyun shook his head. “One word,” the ‘old man’ held up his index finger. “Time travel.”

Woohyun’s eyebrows furrowed.

That was  _two_  words.

“Leeteuk, give it a rest. If the guy said he had time traveled then he  _had_  time travel. Let him be,” L interjected.

“What? Don’t tell me you actually believe him!”

“Of course,” he glanced at Woohyun. “Not.”

The brunet scoffed, rolling his eyes. He could care less if they didn’t believe him.  It’s not like he actually said he time traveled. Leeteuk just assumed.  _And you know what they say about people who assume? They make an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’_

“Where did you say we were going again?” Woohyun asked.

“Back to the headquarters,” Leeteuk answered.

“Headquarters?” He eyed L’s weapons. Besides the two guns L carried, Woohyun also noticed the man carrying an array of knives tucked into several pockets and pouches that adorned his pants.  “What are you guys? Some sort of resistance group or something that fights against the evil warlord that has taken over your country?” Woohyun chuckled at his silly accusation.

L and Leeteuk stopped walking, eyeing Woohyun with suspicion. The brunet’s laughter died down as the situation grew slightly awkward and tense. They stood in the middle of the abandoned yet extremely conspicuous alleyway for well over a minute, eyeing each other.

“It’s getting late. Let’s hurry,” L suddenly turned away and continued leading the way. Leeteuk wordlessly turned away as well.

Woohyun gulped, frowning at the situation.

 _Who are these people really, and what did I get myself into?_  He thought.

The young man was starting to dislike the situation he was in. Although Leeteuk generally seemed like a nice guy–a little smelly but nice overall–and L saved his life, they were both starting to act a little weird and suspicious.

“Alright, we’re going down,” L gestured to the manhole cover in front of them. He crouched down, lifting the alloy to reveal the entrance to the sewers.

“You know, we’re going to have to have a long talk with your boss about the location of your hideout. It shouldn’t be in the sewers.”

“It’s not. The only way to get to HQ from this part of the city without bumping into the cop is by going through this combined sewer. You know as well as I do that the HQ is not down here,” L let Leeteuk and Woohyun go down first. Woohyun wrinkled his nose as he climbed down into the sewer system.

It smelled just as bad as Leeteuk.

“I honestly don’t know how people could live down here!” Leeteuk complained. “It’s dirty and disgusting. And it smells like rotten milk.”

“Coming from the one who lives in a dirty and abandon children’s home,” L frowned.

“Hey, it wasn’t dirty till ‘as high as a kite’ over here crashed into it,” he dramatically pointed a finger at Woohyun, who rolled his eyes in return.

L sighed. Leeteuk was starting to get on his nerves.  _Next time the boss decides to collaborate with one of our outside contacts, he should ask Dongwoo to do it. Not me._

* * *

 

“Another one, Lay?” A tall, young man asked, walking up behind one of his workers who were sitting at his desk, typing away at the computer.  The tall man had his hands in his laboratory coat pockets as he leaned over his worker’s shoulder, peering at the computer screen.

“Yes, just like the rest,” Lay responded. He sighed, pushing up the rim of his glasses. “Sir, what are we going to do? They keep dying. Pretty soon we’re going to have to send more of our men to gather more subjects.” Lay spun around in his chair causing his boss to stand up straight. Lay looked up towards him.

“If this keeps up, the population will start to dwindle down. There won’t be anyone left to experiment on,” his boss concluded, frowning. He ran his hand through his short blond hair, tucking a part of it behind his right ear. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to figure out a solution.

“How are we supposed to create a soldier that operates beyond normal human limits and abilities if they all keep dying? The injections we give to them continue to do the reverse effect and either ended up sending their bodies into a convulsion or a cerebral hemorrhage,” Lay complained.  He pulled at some of his short, brown hair in frustration.

 If they couldn’t figure out a way to keep their experiments alive...

Lay shuddered at the thought of their red-haired boss pulling the trigger on them for being incompetent failures.  He could just see it now, their boss pressing the gun up against his head, spouting derogatory insults. Giving him a malicious smile as his raspy voice lowered, each degrading term digging into his self-esteem.

Let’s just say Lay has been tortured quite a few times for his clumsy fiascos at work.

“I don’t understand what we’re doing wrong. I’m sure it has something to do with the chemicals we’re injecting,” the blond mentioned. “Maybe if we lower the amount of anesthetic,” he pushed Lay off of the chair and took his spot. “And increase the amount of lithium salt and anxiolytic...” He rapidly began to type on the keyboard, entering data and several formulas that Lay was not familiar with

“Um, Kris, sir?” Lay questioned. The tall blond–now known as Kris–ignored him. “Maybe I should get Lu Han… He’ll probably be of more use to you than me.”

Kris stopped typing and turned to Lay, “True; while you’re at it, get Suho as well.”

“No need to,” a familiar voice confirmed. Kris and Lay turned around and saw Suho, Kyungsoo, and another scientist walked down a set of stairs leading to the part of the lab where Kris and Lay occupied. Kris raised an eyebrow at the three.

“Try increasing the psychostimulants as well. It might further induce temporary improvements instead of the opposite,” Suho offered. Kris nodded, returning to the computer screen.

“It’s kind of funny how I was about to look for you, and you guys just suddenly appear,” Lay attempted to make small talk. Suho, Kyungsoo, and the other scientist didn’t even spare Lay a glance.

“Kris, we’ve been given a new task,” Suho informed.

“And that would be,” he didn’t take his eyes off of the screen.

“It has to do with the earthquake that took place not long ago.”

Kris stopped typing and glanced at Suho, “We had an earthquake?” He resumed his typing. Suho’s eye twitched at the question.

Leave it to his partner, the other head scientist of the Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility–also known as BEQP–to not even realize a quake destroyed pretty much all of the slums and run-down parts of the city  _as well_  as some of the more heavily populated areas.

“Yes, we had an earthquake. It was a pretty big one too. A magnitude of six point eight.”

“Hm, that’s not  _that_  bad.”

Suho furrowed his eyebrows.  _It was that bad._ “I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation, Kris. Something strange and right up our alley happened during the quake.”

“And that would be?” He drawled out.

“Time travel.”

Kris once stopped typing, turning to Suho, “ _Time Travel_?”

“Time travel,” Suho smirked.

Kris gave a nonchalant shrug, rolling his eyes. He thought Suho was going to say something  _interesting._ He returned to his typing, “And?”

Suho gave a frustrated sigh.

* * *

 

“We’re finally here,” L sighed in relief.

“I don’t see anything,” Woohyun mumbled.

“Not here  _here._  Once we climb this ladder,” he pointed to the ladder they were approaching. “We’ll be there.” L let Leeteuk and Woohyun climb out first.

When they emerged outside, Woohyun mentally cheered. He had never been so happy to be outside before. He took a huge sniff of the fresh air, attempting to get the smell of the sewers and Leeteuk’s odor out of his nostrils.

Woohyun noticed that the sky was dark, indicating it was now late in the evening. Were they underground for that long? It only felt like a couple of hours or so. Last time he checked, before he fell off of the bridge during the quake, it was around seven in the morning, border lining eight. It couldn’t possibly be nine or ten in the evening.

The brunet shrugged, quickly losing interest in the subject. He chalked it up to another thing different about this period/world, right alongside with police officers that’ll arrest you for poking them.

“So I assume that this is the Headquarters?” Leeteuk inquired, pointing to the abandoned warehouse in front of them.

Woohyun gaped at the building in front of them. He would have never noticed it unless someone pointed it out. It didn’t stand out, and it looked like every other building on the block. Woohyun noticed that the area was pretty much abandoned. 

There were a few people here and there, but overall, the area was slightly deserted. The area looked pretty devastated, though. Several building Woohyun saw in the distance were destroyed. The whole region looked pretty ruined except for the HQ and the buildings next to it. The young man assumed the earthquake was the reason for all of this destruction.

“C’mon,” L pulled Woohyun out of his thoughts. The three approached the warehouse. Woohyun wondered how this building was able to say up during the tremor. It looked just as raggedy and poorly made as the other buildings up close.

L grabbed the handle on one of the doors, sliding it open. They walked in. No one was inside. It was completely empty, desolate.

Dust covered the entire room. The windows and various other doors–excluding the one they walked through–were boarded up. One of those creepy janitorial closet lights flickered above their heads. It was pretty dim, so they couldn’t see much.

“Where is everybody?” Woohyun looked to L for the answer. The gun-wielding young man pointed to the ground. Woohyun was confused.

He looked down, but he didn’t see anyone.

L rolled his eyes at Woohyun and then felt up against wall until one particular brick pushed inward. The ground started shaking and the walls in the back of the warehouse began to shift, revealing an elevator. It then dawned on Woohyun where everybody was.

_Underground._

The three walked into the newly revealed elevator, the doors closing behind them. L pressed the floor buttons in a specific order, resulting in a small click being heard. A small hatch opened below the floor buttons, revealing another set of buttons. L punched in a password, and the elevator jolted. Woohyun could feel the machinery shift down.

“Woohyun, I need you to do me a big favor,” Leeteuk begged. Woohyun glanced at the ‘old man.’ “You should keep this whole time traveling thing to yourself. Not everyone will take it with an open-mind like L and I.”

“Open-mind? You keep calling me crazy and a drug addict. You’re the one who keeps saying I time traveled. I never said anything!”

“Oh, and don’t go and randomly start attacking people either. I don’t know if that’s the norm from where you’re from, but you can get into some serious trouble. You may even get yourself killed.”

“I didn’t attack anyone for the last time. How does a poke equal assaulting someone?”

“We’re here,” L notified.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a huge facility. It wasn’t as dark and dingy as Woohyun expected it to be. It was actually bright and clean. 

Much cleaner than Leeteuk.

Lights littered the walls, brightening the area. A huge mainframe generator was stationed in the middle. Several people were running to and fro. Some were wearing similar outfits and carrying weapons just like L. A huge computer screen filled in the entire wall further pass the generator. Showing on the screen were various locations of South Hallow or at least Woohyun assumed it was. They were all heavily populated areas.

 _Exactly who are these people, and why did they have cameras littering the city?_ Woohyun thought. He started to extremely regret getting involved with L and Leeteuk.

People were eyeing the three as they way further into the room. Woohyun noticed several doors and hallways on each sides of the room, leading to another part of the facility.

This place was huge. It was like an underground community. Plants and trees outlined the edges where people and machinery didn’t take place. Parts of the ceiling were barren, revealing the night time sky.

Woohyun was utterly fascinated with everything, “How are plants growing here? How come we can see the sky? How–”

“Advance solar technology that channels sunlight underground, enabling trees and plants to grow,” a new voice interrupted. Woohyun turned to the voice.

He saw a young man approach them. He looked to be the same age as Woohyun, if not a little bit older. His caramel hair shone in the light. It was swept to the side, covering his forehead.

Woohyun couldn’t tell if the man was walking to them with his eyes close, or they were just naturally that small.

He was wearing dark brown trousers. The bottoms tucked into his black combat boots. To compliment with the pants, he sported a long sleeve white fitted shirt with a dark gray vested jacket on top.

To Woohyun, it looked like he was about to go into the wilderness to hunt for game.

 In others words, this man looked  _ridiculous_.

_What is with these people and their fashion? Whoever told them that these vested jackets were still in style should be slapped off the face of the planet._

“Welcome back, L,” the caramel hair man greeted.

“Sir,” L saluted.

“Park Jeongsu,” he nodded to the smelly man. The ‘old’ hobo nodded back. “Did you bring what I asked of?”

“Did you bring the money I asked of, Kim Sunggyu?” Leeteuk shot back. Sunggyu nodded and flicked his head towards a door behind him.

“Let’s talk in there.” Leeteuk nodded and began walk to the location.

Sunggyu turned to Woohyun, fixing him with a beady stare.

…Maybe.

Woohyun wasn’t sure if the man’s eyes were close or if he was just glaring.

“Oh yeah, Sunggyu, this is Woohyun,” Leeteuk introduced.

“Um, hi,” Woohyun held his hand out to the man. “Like he said, I’m Woohyun.”

Sunggyu eyed Woohyun’s hand like it was poison. “Why is he here?” He glanced at L.

“I saved him and Leeteuk.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure how it started, but they got involved with the police.”

“The  _authorities_?” Sunggyu looked to Leeteuk for the answers.

“He attacked the man,” Leeteuk shrugged. Woohyun scoffed at the allegation.

“And why did you bring a convict into my headquarters?” Sunggyu demanded.

“Hey! I didn’t attack him!” Woohyun was starting to get fed up with defending himself.

“He’s not a  _convict_ , Sunggyu. He’s a  _drug addict_ ,” Leeteuk asserted.

“Like that makes the situation any better. We don’t have any more room for strays,” he gripped Woohyun’s shoulders and spun him around, pushing him towards the elevator.

“But he needs help. We can’t just let him go back out there alone.”

“And why not?”

“He’s sick and confused. He so far out there that he thinks he’s time traveled,” Leeteuk flailed his arms in assertion.

Woohyun rolled his eyes.  _I thought he said we we’re going to keep quiet about that._

“All the more reason to kick him out,” he grabbed Woohyun by the arm dragging to the elevator.

Woohyun frowned at the action, “I can walk there myself, jerk.” He pulled his arm out of Sunggyu’s grip.

“Jerk?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty douche-ish of you to kick someone out of your ‘ _secret lair_ ,’” he air quoted the last part, “just because they’re high–which I’m not for your information.” Sunggyu glared at him, his cheeks flushing with anger and embarrassment.

The room grew quiet as everyone witness Woohyun insult Sunggyu. Workers stopped tending to their works. People stopped typing on their computers. Guards by the entrance readied their weapons, waiting for Sunggyu’s order to kill the brunet on the spot.

No one has ever insulted Kim Sunggyu before.

Especially not in front of everybody.

“You’re right,” Sunggyu nodded.

“Huh?”

“I can’t just kick you out.”

“Exactly,” Woohyun smiled. He didn’t really want to go. No matter how suspicious everyone was, he had nowhere to go at the moment. He knew nothing about South Hallow, and from his experience with the police, asking them a question seemed kind of risky.

“For all we know, you could be a spy for the government, sent out here to see what we’re doing, to see how much of a threat we are to the government!”

“What–”

“We can’t afford to let you go.”

“But–”

“This whole  _time traveling_ story isn’t going to get you far.”

“Listen–”

“We are a threat to them! We’re not going to give up till we overthrow the government and win our country back!”

“Good for you, but–”

“I’m not going to kill you.”

“That’s good–”

“Yet.”

“I take that back–”

“You’re going to be our hostage. You’re going to tell us everything you know about what’s going on in the underground laboratories of the BEQP!”

“The what–”

“Let’s go to the interrogation room!” Sunggyu grabbed Woohyun by the arm, attempting to drag him down one of the various hallways. Woohyun would have none of this, though.

“Let go of me! All of you people are crazy!” He flailed all over the place, making Sunggyu’s job difficult. “I don’t work for the government! I’m not a spy. I’m not a convict. And I am not a fucking  _drug addict_ ,” he jabbed Sunggyu in the arm.

Sunggyu froze at the action.

Everyone in the room gasped.

“You did not just attack me,” Sunggyu snarled.

“What the hell?! Can you people not tell the difference between poking and hitting? All I did was jab you. You’re the one–”

Sunggyu punched Woohyun in the face, instantly knocking the young man out.

“No one messes with Kim Sunggyu, the leader of INFINITE, the resistance group,” Sunggyu spat.


	5. A Good Reason

It's just as we expected,” Sunggyu mumbled, skimming over the documents Leeteuk gathered. “If they keep this up, the citizens of South Hallow will be wiped out.” He placed the papers in the middle of the table, allowing the other men occupying the room to take a look.

The man seated on the right of Sunggyu was the second-in-command of INFINITE, Jang Dongwoo.  The short deputy commander leaned forward, grasping a handful of the documents, “How are they going run a country with no citizens?”

“This is madness. They’ve gone too far. We need to stop them,” Sunggyu crossed his arms.

“What are they planning, though? What’s their goal?” The tall male to his right inquired.

“Who cares? Let’s just bust in there and–” Across from them, a young woman with blonde hair demanded.

“And how exactly do you plan on busting into the BEQP facility? By just  _walking_  in?” The tall man retorted.

“Yeah and with guns blazing of course! Do  _you_  have a better idea, Minho?”

“I do,  _Amber_. How about we use this thing which we call the  _brain_ –which obviously you don’t have?” Minho spluttered offensively.

“Hey!–”

“No one’s busting or walking into the building!” Sunggyu slammed his fist on the table, ending their argument instantly. “We sent in a team to infiltrate the place previously, but... We lost them. We lost Jinyoung and his team,” Sunggyu sighed. “I’m not losing anyone else to those scumbags.”

“Well then, what’s the plan? Standing around talking about what we’re not going to do isn’t going to get us very far,” Amber indicated.

“I know. I've sent Hoya and Sungyeol to scout the facility. We’ll wait till they report back before we come up with a plan.”

“What’s the point of scouting, Sunggyu?” Another resistance member in the room pointed out. “We haven’t found anything in the past. Besides, there is no secret entrance into the building. Why keep looking?”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Dongwoo answered before Sunggyu could. “These papers and photographs revealing some of the inhumane experiments going on in the BEQP aren’t the only things Leeteuk brought us.”

Confusion and curiosity was etched on the resistance member’s faces. They wondered what else the smelly, old man brought.

“What do you mean?” L asked. He was in a corner of the room with his back pressed against the wall and arms crossed.

“As I have mentioned,” Sunggyu started. “Hoya and Sungyeol are scouting the surrounding areas of the BEQP facility. Leeteuk was fortunate enough to come across some old blueprints of the building before they remolded a few years back. On the blueprints, there were a few entrances into the building via underground passageways.”

“Like the sewers?” A random resistance soldier asked.

“That and some of the underground tunnels linked to the old transit system that used to run around that area,” Sunggyu nodded

“I highly doubt those entrances still exist,” L pointed out.

“True, but we’ll never know till Hoya and Sungyeol report back.”

L frowned as the members of INFINITE continued their discussion on possible infiltrations with the least possible injuries and deaths.

* * *

 

Woohyun woke up to find himself in a small room with a table and a couple of chairs in the middle. He was sitting on one of the chairs with his face pressed against the hard, metallic table. A small light was dangling from the ceiling, shining down on him and the table. The brunet felt like he was in one of those ‘cop shows,’ and he was brought to the big house to confess and pay his dues.

“How did I get myself into this?” Woohyun brooded aloud, rubbing the black eye that  _embellished_  his face. He sat up.

The pain Sunggyu delivered to Woohyun helped him realize that he really wasn’t dreaming. None of this was a figment of his imagination. There was also enough proof around him to substantiate the fact that he was in another time period, another world. All of this was happening, and he had to get use to it. 

“What exactly conspired together and made me travel to this time period in the first place?” Woohyun mumbled, trailing into his thoughts.  _That bridge and the weird earthquake definitely had something to do with whatever let me travel here. The same thing goes for the necklace…_

Woohyun felt his neck, making sure that the jewelry was actually missing. He knew without a doubt that the necklace had something to do with all of this as well. What normal accessory would glow in the middle of an earthquake?

For all he knew, the necklace was the sole reason why he had traveled through time. If he wanted to get back to his own time, he might need that necklace again, right?

_But the question is what in the world happened to it? That thing could be anywhere. How am I supposed to find something like that in this city?_

“What if I can’t find it? Will I be stuck here forever? Will I never be able to go home? Will I–”

“Do you do this often–talking to yourself?” Someone suddenly asked.

The new voice scared the living daylights out of Woohyun, causing him to fall out of his chair. The brunet quickly scurried across the floor, pressing his back against the wall. He looked up and saw a young boy–a teenager perhaps?–place a tray of food and medical supplies on the table.

“Calm down. No one’s going to hurt you,” the teenager soothed. He had short, burgundy hair pulled back into a small ponytail, barely reaching his shoulders. His fringe was swept across the right side of his face, covering his brows.

He was wearing a brown belted vest with a white long sleeved turtle neck shirt underneath coupled with a pair of pocketed shorts. It gave off a ‘martial arts meets safari’ vibe.

Woohyun shakily stood up, eyeing the boy with apprehension, “That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t get punched in the face for poking someone.”

“True, but from what I heard, you also insulted our leader. People get really crazy and violent if you touch them,” he chuckled, sitting down on one of the chairs. “Sit down. I want to clean that cut on your cheek and that black eye.”

“Well, he started it,” Woohyun whined. He grabbed the chair he fell out of and pulled it up next to the teenager.

“Don’t mind Sunggyu; he just has some anger issues,” the burgundy haired boy poured a few drops of liquid Woohyun couldn’t identify onto a cotton swab. He pressed it against the cut on Woohun’s cheek. “Once you get to know him, you’ll find out that he’s just a big sweetheart!”

“Who said I wanted to get to know him?” Woohyun frowned, the liquid from the cotton swab made the cut sting.

Chuckling at Woohyun’s apparent dislike for the resistance leader, he placed the swab on the table, “Trust me, Sunggyu is not as mean and angry as he appears at first.” He stuck his hand out, wanting to shake the brunet’s, “By the way, I’m Lee Sungjong, Sunggyu’s little brother.”

Woohyun gawked at the younger, mentally slapping himself for insulting the kid’s older brother. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Sungjong shook his head.

“Don’t worry. I don’t really care if you insult him. You have a good reason since he punched you and all.” Sungjong smiled.  “And he’s not my  _real_  brother; he took me in and looked after me when the government took my parents away a few years ago, so as the years gone by, I began to see him as an older brother.”

“I see,” Woohyun shook Sungjong’s hand. “I’m Woohyun…”  _The government took his parents away? What did they do?_

“I got some bad news, Woohyun,” Sungjong confessed, frowning suddenly. Woohyun raised a brow. “We’re going to have to stitch this cut up,” gesturing to the gash on Woohyun’s cheek.

“What? No! Not my beautiful face!” Woohyn sobbed. He began to feel the area around the cut. The brunet always made sure to take good care of his face. It was very precious to him.

“Just joking!”

“What?!”

“Luckily it’s not infected, so I can just slap a Band-Aid on it and call it a day,” Sungjong giggled at the flabbergasted expression on Woohyun’s face.

“You son of a–”

The door to their room suddenly opened, interrupting Woohyun. Sunggyu was in the doorway.

“I’m almost done, Sunggyu,” Sungjong informed. “I just need to tend to this black eye you gave him.” He slapped a semi-large square bandage on Woohyun’s cheek, resulting in a whimper erupting from the brunet. “Is the meeting over?”

“For now. We’re waiting for Hoya and Sungyeol to return.”Sunggyu replied, walking into the room. He leaned against the wall opposite of Woohyun, crossing his arms, observing him. Woohyun frowned, feeling uncomfortable with the man scrutinizing him so closely. He tried to concentrate on something other than Sunggyu, listening to the instructions Sungjong mumbled to him. 

No matter where he looked, though, his eyes would wander back to Sunggyu. The bleakness of his gaze unnerved Woohyun. He felt like the resistance leader was boring into his soul, into his very being.

“Stop fidgeting.  I can’t apply this cream if you keep moving,” Sungjong complained, frowning at him.

“I can’t help it,” Woohyun leaned in close to the teenager. He raised his hand, slightly covering his mouth. “He won’t stop staring at me,” he whispered. “It’s kind of creepy.”

Sungjong blinked, looking at Woohyun, Sunggyu, and then back at Woohyun. “It looks like he’s sleeping to me,” he whispered back.

“Really? But he was just talking to you.”

“He can fall asleep just about anywhere, even up against a wall like that.”

Woohyun and Sungjong eyed Sunggyu warily. The latter was frowning, glaring at the two.

“Now that you say that, it really does look like he’s asleep,” Woohyun concluded.

“Uh huh,” Sungjong nodded.

“But why does it feel like he’s staring into the depths of my soul, damning me to hell for all eternity?”

“He does that to everyone–”

“Hey! I’m standing right here,  _right exactly here_ ,” Sunggyu yelled. “I’m not asleep. I can hear everything you two are saying.”

“Well, maybe you should open your eyes wider so we won’t be mistaken in the future,” Woohyun muttered under his breath, not intending for Sunggyu to hear.

Sunggyu heard, though.

“You wanna say that again, punk?!” Sunggyu growled, reaching over the table for Woohyun. The brunet quickly stood up, cowering away. The resistance leader grasped the table, attempting to flip it out of his way.

It was bolted to the ground, though.

Sungjong sighed, “Would you calm down?” He stood in front of Woohyun, protecting him from Sunggyu.

“Calm down? You want me to  _calm down_?!” Sunggyu bellowed. “That guy is a spy for the government! He almost ruined the mission I gave Jeongsu by attracting the police. If they found out that we got our hands on some very valuable information like that, it would spell death for us all.”

“We’re a resistance group fighting against the government, Sunggyu. We’ve already spelled death for everyone who is associated–”

“That’s not the point. He’s also spouting out nonsensical things like  _time traveling_ –which last time I checked, only the government could achieve such a thing. And if it’s true, then he  _must_ work for the them! He’s trouble for us all.”

“You’re just upset because someone actually called you a jerk in front of everyone,” Sungjong huffed, placing his hands on his hips.

“I–I …Nuh uh!” Sunggyu flushed red with embarrassment.

“Instead of punching and yelling at him, how about we just listen to his side of the story. I’m sure he has a good reason. For all we know, this could just be a huge misunderstanding,” Sungjong assured.

“When did you get so… wise?” Sunggyu inquired, leaning against the wall again.

“When you started getting really hot headed,” Sungjong sat down, coaxing Woohyun to sit down. The latter slowly approached his chair, eyeing Sunggyu with caution. Sungjong started to treat his black eye again.

“Well,” Woohyun began. “It all started when I was walking home from work yesterday…”

* * *

 

“Uh huh… Are you sure?” A young man mumbled in his phone. He and another fellow were standing on the rooftop of an enormous building. “This evening? No? Oh, well, they’ll most likely make their move tomorrow or in a couple of days. Yep. Will you be with them? Alright, we’ll let YG know.” He ended the call.

It was a blustery evening. The wind howled about the building, tousling the man’s dark brown hair that had blond highlights in it.

“So?” His companion drawled. His blond hair was affected by the wind as well, ruffling all over the place. “What did he say?” They stood on the edge of the building, gazing into the city below.

“They might’ve found a way in,” the older of the two answered.

“How?”

“Through the underground tunnels.”

“Where are they getting this information from?”

“He didn’t say, but all I know is that Yongguk isn’t going to be a happy camper when he hears this.”

“He’s definitely not going to be happy when we have to let the people back at YG know,” the blond agreed.

“This little resistance group is getting out of hand. We need to put a stop to INFINITE before they can ruin anything else,” the brunet/blond pocketed his cell and turned around, heading to the door that would lead them back to the main floors of the building.

“Did you hear about what happened back in the BEQP labs earlier?” The blond followed his comrade.

“Some discovery that was related to the earthquake, right?” They descended the staircase.

“Yeah, Suho and his team discovered something that might be able to help perfect time traveling. I don’t really know the details on it, though.”

“Time traveling?”

“Yeah, Yongguk is forcing them to stop all of their research and experiments on super soldiers and put work on this.”

The blond stopped his descent, causing his companion to stop as well. “Why are they doing this? I thought YG wanted super soldiers not time traveling, Daehyun.”

“They want both, but they want the BEQP to focus on soldiers for the meantime,” Daehyun said.

“So this is all Yongguk’s idea? He’s the one giving them the orders now?”

“It seems so. Yongguk has always been interested in time traveling, especially after…” Daehyun trailed off.

“I thought Yongguk got over him. It’s been like what, five years?”

Daehyun shrugged, “Six, but you never really get over someone’s death, Youngjae. No matter how long it’s been.”

Youngjae frowned, thinking about the accident that took the life of someone he was extremely close to,  someone he considered family. “What’s his goal? What is Yongguk trying to accomplish by having the scientist solely focus on time traveling?”

“What do you think?” He turned from Youngjae, continuing his descent down the stairs. “If you had the ability to go back in time, wouldn’t you do whatever is possible to save him, to stop that accident from happening in the first place? To bring him back  _alive_?”

“But at what cost?” Youngjae prodded. Daehyun ignored him and continued walking.


	6. The News

"And I believe that it was Mr. Shooting Star’s fault for bringing me here,” Woohyun concluded.

He gave the two resistance members a huge smile as he finished his recounting of everything that happened in the past several hours. He started with his mother’s death, walking home after work, making a wish upon a shooting star to crashing and meeting Leeteuk in his house and eventually meeting Sunggyu and his ‘INFINITE’ group.

The room grew very quiet as Woohyun observed Sunggyu and Sungjong’s reaction.

Sunggyu’s eye twitched as he stared at the slightly younger man in front of him. He couldn’t figure out if Woohyun was telling the truth or if he was just extremely delusional and idiotic. He decided to go with the latter.

The INFINITE leader sighed, massaging his temples. He could feel the beginnings of a migraine take place. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sunggyu started. “What makes–”

“That sounds so romantic!” Sungjong interrupted with a dreamy sigh. He couldn’t help but smile, thinking about everything Woohyun just told them.

“ _Romantic_?” Woohyun eyed Sungjong concernedly. “What’s so  _romantic_ about falling off a bridge, getting shot by a cop, and getting punched in the face by this psychopathic jerk over here?” He dramatically pointed to Sunggyu.  _What is wrong with this kid?_

“ _Psychopathic jerk_?” Sunggyu grumbled, frowning at the insult.

“Everything,” Sungjong explained. “Your mom just died, you wished to have an exciting life upon a shooting star, and then you end up here, in another world and time. Your wish was granted, and you were able to travel five thousand years into the future. What’s  _not_  romantic about that?”

“Everything. I didn’t ask Mr. Shooting Star to send me here. I was just kind of hoping I would win the lottery the next day or something.”

“Hold the phone!” Sunggyu grabbed the younger two’s attention, finally deciding to join the conversation again. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that all that really happened to you?”

“No. I’m kind of having a hard time believing it myself. It still hasn’t completely sunk in yet, but it’s all true,” Woohyun confessed. “It all really did happen.”

“Well, I don’t believe you,” Sunggyu crossed his arms.

“If it makes you feel any better, Leeteuk is the one who came to the conclusion that I time traveled. I never actually said that I did in the first place.”

“Hm,” Sunggyu leaned on the table with his elbows, sitting on the edge of his chair. “Okay, so say that you  _really did time traveled_ , how do you plan on getting back to your own time?”

He could relate to Woohyun when it came to Leeteuk. The man always came to the wrong conclusions about certain matters. He decided to give Woohyun the benefit of the doubt and play along with the story to figure out if the younger was truly telling the truth or not or if he really was a spy for BEQP.

“You see, that’s the thing.  _I don’t know_. So much had happened during that quake; I’m not sure exactly what the cause was. I’m not sure if the area I was in was some sort of doorway that connected my universe to yours or if the necklace that the guy dropped was the cause,” Woohyun frowned.

“What makes you think it was the necklace?”

“It started glowing and floating in mid-air during the earthquake.”

“Can I see the necklace?” Sungjong requested.

“I don’t have it anymore,” Woohyun felt his neck where the necklace had once resided. “When I woke up in Leeteuk’s house, it was gone. I’m guessing it fell off or something during the quake...” He trailed off.

The room grew quiet as the occupants journeyed off in to their own thoughts.

Woohyun thought of all the possible locations of the necklace–which wasn’t much in the first place because he doesn’t know a single thing about this world.

Sunggyu was trying to decipher the brunet’s  _romantic_  tale and if the younger was truly telling the truth.

Sungjong, on the other hand, decided to voice his thoughts, “What was your world like? Was it as technologically advanced like ours?”

“Of course not, Sungjong,” Sunggyu answered for Woohyun. “There’s no way that the cities from five thousand years ago had the exact same technology as us. If they did, then we would be more advanced than we are now.”

The brunet couldn’t help but released a small sigh as the siblings continued ranting on the possibilities of what Woohyun’s time and world was like. It hasn’t even been a full day since he 'traveled' to this period, yet he was already home sick. He missed his friends, his coworkers, his neighbors, his mother…

His missed Suji.

Woohyun frowned as he thought about Suji. He wondered if this was the same time his mother claimed she was from. Was there a young Suji running around out there? The brunet recalled his mother mentioning that she was part of a resistance faction. What would be the odds that this  _INFINITE_  was the same group she was a member of?

“Hey,” he looked to Sunggyu. “By any chance, do you know someone by the name of Su–”

“Sunggyu!” Someone yelled, busting into the interrogation room. “Sungyeol and Hoya are back!” He beckoned for the caramel haired leader to follow.

“Alright, I’ll be there in a second,” Sunggyu assured. The resistance member saluted to his leader, leaving the room afterwards. “What was you asking before he came in?” He looked to Woohyun.

Woohyun shook his head, not wanting to even think about his mother anymore.

“You better not be hiding anything related to the BEQP,” Sunggyu scowled.

The younger sighed again, losing the will to continue fighting with Sunggyu, claiming his innocence when it came to the ‘being a spy for the government matter,’ “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not a spy for this BEQP. I don’t even know what that is…”

Sunggyu huffed, grabbing Woohyun by the arm, “We’ll continue this discussion later. Let’s go.”

“Go where?” He eyed the hand that was wrapped around his arm as if it was attached to Satan himself.

“We’re going to go see Sungyeol and Hoya.”

“Who said I wanted to go meet your little friends?” Woohyun slightly struggled to break free.

“I didn’t ask. I’m not taking my eyes off of you. You might contact your bosses, letting them know exactly where my headquarters is located.” The resistance leader tightened his grip on the younger.

“You really don’t believe me, do you?”

“No.”

The bickering  _couple_ –well, it was more like the bickering leader since Sunggyu was the only one talking, accusing Woohyun of all the possible things he could have done–left the room with Sungjong following. When they reached the main room where Woohyun was previously knocked out in, the brunet noticed a huge crowd near the generator. Two figures were standing in the middle.

The first one slightly towered over everyone. He had chestnut colored hair with a tint of red to it. His fringe was swept to the side, partially covering his forehead. Rusty red frames were perched up on his nose, giving him an ‘obviously lacks proper social skills’ look.

He adorned a plain, white turtle neck that was worn under a beige weather jacket. The inside of the jacket as well as the area around the collar were a French beige color. His large pocket pants were also French beige while the wide stripes on the sides were a normal shade of beige.

Woohyun didn’t realize that it was cold enough outside to wear such an absurd top.

The other male next to his left was a bit shorter than him. His hair, a dark shade of brown, was spiked up in the front, showing off his flawless forehead and thick eyebrows. His attire greatly contrasted everyone else Woohyun had encountered so far in South Hallow.

He was wearing a gray jumpsuit. Or maybe it was a flight suit? It had two large upper chest pockets, vertical zipper pockets on the side, and a large calf pocket with a covered zipper opening. Several knives were attached to his waist. On the left chest pocket, a clear, transparent pocket could be seen. Inside was a nametag that said, ‘LEE HOYA.’

Woohyun wasn’t sure what to make of his attire. Either this was considered normal apparel in South Hallow or the man shops at clothing stores that sale jumpsuits that people in jail wear.

Both males had air rifles strapped to their backs, semi-automatic rifles in their hands, and handguns tucked into their holsters that Woohyun just realized were wrapped around their thighs.

The two ridiculously dressed men noticed Sunggyu walking towards them. “Captain!” They both saluted. Sunggyu saluted back, releasing his tight grip around Woohyun. However, he made sure that the brunet was still in his sights.

“You two are back much earlier than I expected,” Sunggyu said, lowering his saluted hand. “Did everything go well?”

The resistance members lowered their hands as well. “Yeah, there weren’t a lot of guards on duty this evening. We were easily able to slip in and out of their territory,” the shorter of the two informed.

“It was easy,  _too easy._  It was as if they knew we were there, scouting about,” the tall, chestnut haired male added.

“You think they knew?” Sunggyu frowned, crossing his arms. Voices filled the room as everyone voiced their opinions on the matter.

“Maybe we have a mole in the group… or a spy.”

Sunggyu whipped his head to Woohyun, already deeming the brunet as the one who told the government of their plans.

“Stop right there!” Woohyun scowled at the leader. “I know what you’re thinking! I didn’t do it! How could I have possibly told anyone of what you and your little  _gang_ were doing when I was locked up in that room for who knows how long!”

“I don’t believe you!”

“Sunggyu,” Sungjong intervened. “Hoya and Sungyeol left for the mission way before he, Leeteuk, and L got here. It would be impossible for him to have known about it.”

Woohyun nodded his head rapidly, agreeing to everything Sungjong had said. Sunggyu scoffed, knowing his brother was right. He looked away from Woohyun, sighing, and then giving his attention back to Hoya and Sungyeol.

“Any clue as to who it might be?” He wondered.

“I think you owe someone an apology,” Woohyun mention before the two resistance members could answer back.

“Who?” Sunggyu gave Woohyun a puzzled look.

The brunet pointed to himself as his response.

The leader of INFINITE gave a hearty laugh.

“I’m being serious!” Woohyun stomped his foot to prove his point. Sunggyu gave a small smile at the childish act.

“Oh my gosh!” Sungyeol suddenly squealed. He harshly pushed Sunggyu out of the way and eyed Woohyun from head to toe. He circled the brunet, mumbling and nodding to himself.

Everyone furrowed their brows, wondering what has gotten into the tall man. Woohyun frowned. He didn’t like the way Sungyeol was looking at him. He felt creeped out.

Sungyeol took off his glasses, using his turtle neck shirt to clean the lenses. When he put the spectacles back on, he leaned into Woohyun’s personal space. He observed the other male’s visage closely. “It really is you…” He mumbled.

“What–”

“Look Hoya! It’s him! It’s him!” He grabbed Woohyun by the shoulders and shoved him into Hoya’s direction. “It’s that guy from early! The one who was all over the news!”

“News?” Sunggyu asked. “What news? I haven’t seen anything.”

Hoya looked at Woohyun with a blank expression.  The latter felt a bit intimidated by the stare. “Yeah, he looks like him,” Hoya concluded, nodding.

“What news, Sungyeol?” Sunggyu repeated. “You have ten seconds to explain to me what the hell you’re talking about.”

“You know that big broadcasting station down the street from the BEQP?” Sungyeol inquired. “While we were in the area scouting, we overheard the latest piece of news. Something about some guy brutally beating a police officer up. His face is on all of the news channels.”

Everyone looked at Woohyun, assuming it was him.

Woohyun sighed, knowing that whatever he was going to say would fall on deaf ears.

“You never hear stories about police getting attacked, so we had to see what this was all about,” Sungyeol continued.

Sungyeol reached into one of his large pockets that decorated his pants and pulled out a strange looking device. It was black and in the shape of a square. Several dots littered the gadget. Sungyeol pressed one of the several dots on the instrument and suddenly a huge holographic image appeared in the air.

Woohyun’s eyes widened as several images flashed in front of everyone. His mouth opened a bit, amazed at the technology. He thought the flying cars in this world were amazing, but three dimensional holographic images?

Astonishing.

Sungyeol pressed another dot and several square images appeared. Each image showed a male or a female talking to the camera. Voices filled the room as everyone in the images were talking about various things. Headlines, captions, and videos could be seen next to each person. Woohyun realized they were reporters and newscasters.

This was the first thing Woohyun has encountered since he came to South Hallow that resembled something of his world and time.

“Um, which one was it?” Woohyun heard Sungyeol mumble. “Ah there it is!” He pressed another dot and all of the square images disappeared except for one. The small image grew exponentially, big enough for everyone to see. A female in a suit–the most normal outfit Woohyun had seen yet–appeared. She had long black hair pulled into a tight ponytail.

> The female reporter was talking about something related to cows when she came to an abrupt stop. She turned from the screen. She cupped her right ear, leaning slightly into it.
> 
> “What? Is… Is that possible?” She whispered but loud enough for the cameras to pick up.  She then turned back to the cameras, but it was obvious she was looking past the equipment. “Do you want me to talk about it?” She mouthed. After a moment, she nodded her head and situated herself back into her seat comfortably.
> 
> “Sorry for that. We've just received more information about the police officer that was shot and killed today roughly around four in the afternoon near the old abandoned children’s home on the corner of Cottage Avenue and Merry Creek Farms.
> 
> “Witnesses say the police officer was assaulted by a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties. Two other people were seen with the criminal. Another young man who seem to be around the age as the former and an older man who looked to be around seventy.” A pregnant pause followed afterwards.

“That had to be Woohyun, L, and Leeteuk,” Sungjong mused.

> “This just in!” The reporter shouted at the camera. “We just received word that there was someone who witness the crime as well as a video recording of it! We’ll switch over to our field reporter. Gyuri!”
> 
> The image quickly switched to a young woman, who was also in a suit, outside. She had long, wavy, black hair that framed her face nicely. There was a young man standing next to her. His hair was slightly shaved on the side while the top was styled like a Mohawk. He had several tattoos that adorned his left arm and his chest. He was wearing a similar outfit to what Leeteuk was wearing–something Woohyun couldn’t figure out. Was it a robe with short sleeves?

Woohyun instantly recognized the area she was in. He could see the abandoned children’s home Leeteuk claimed to be his house in the background.

> “Thanks Hara,” Gyuri nodded. “Hello, this is Park Gyuri, and here with me is…” She held the mic out to the man.
> 
> “Yo, what’s up? The name is Jay Park, and–”
> 
> Gyuri pulled the microphone back to her, “So tell me Mr. Park, what exactly went down over here.” She passed the mic back over to him.
> 
> “Man, you should have seen it, Gyuri!” Jay took the mic from her hand. “This cop walked up to them, you know? He was telling them to be quiet because they were fucking loud, spouting something about time traveling!”
> 
> “Time traveling?” Gyuri sounded surprised. He voice was lower since she wasn’t holding the mic anymore.
> 
> “Yeah, I think they were on some crazy shit–.”

“What the hell?” Woohyun muttered, not liking what the man was saying about him.

> “Anyway, this one guy just suddenly attacks the cop! There was screaming and everyone was running! I thought the po-po was gonna die! But he was able to push the guy away! He pulled his gun out on him and his friend. He even shot at him, but I think he missed because the guy was still standing!”
> 
> “Interesting!” Gyuri nodded.
> 
> “Yeah! But then this other guy came! I don’t know where he came from. It was like magic! He was just like suddenly there!  _Poof, man! Poof!_ ” He flailed his arms around to better help his explanation. “Anywho, the guy was like, ‘Hey asshole!’–”

“I did not say asshole,” grumbled L.

> “And he fucking shot the cop! He shot him, Gyuri! I was like, ‘Aw, hell naw!’ I was out after that! I didn’t want to get involved in the aftermath of that shit!”
> 
> “This is definitely arousing my curiosity!” Gyuri informed. She grabbed the mic out of Jay’s hand. “What’s your intake on this, Hara?”
> 
> The screen split in half. On the left was Hara back at the studio while Gyuri and Jay, who was trying to make sure he was still on camera, on the right.
> 
> “Honestly, I don’t know. To think a group of people running around out there killing cops and such is horrifying. Obviously they must be related to that  _resistance_  group.”
> 
> “INFINITE?” Gyuri asked.
> 
> “Yes. Who else would attack innocent people for no reason?”
> 
> “True, very true.”

“Hey! We don’t attack innocent people,” Sunggyu claimed, growling at the news anchor. Woohyun scoffed at the comment. Sunggyu glanced at him, “What?”

“Don’t attack the innocent? Don’t make me laugh! You punched me earlier, and I didn’t do anything to you!”

“You attacked a cop!” He pointed to the hologram.

“No, I did not! Just watch the recording they’re going to show. You’re going to see that I did nothing to the man!”

> “Okay, we’re ready to show you the videotaping of the crime!” Hara announced. The screen faded away to show a black and white recording of today’s events.

Woohyun saw himself on the screen, talking to Leeteuk.

> “Sitting on the bench are the two main suspects,” Hara's voice narrated. “As you can see, it’s obvious they are arguing with each other.”

Woohyun’s brows furrowed as he watched hologram. He and Leeteuk weren’t arguing. All they did was stand up.

> “There goes the cop,” Hara pointed out. The cop walked up to Woohyun and Leeteuk. “It’s obvious that the policeman was nicely trying to calm the two criminals down. The men don’t take lightly to the situation, though. The shorter man starts arguing with the cop.”
> 
> Woohyun walks up to the cop, poking him in the chest.

“Oh my gosh!” Someone screamed behind Woohyun. Several gasps and groans filled the room. Everyone glared at the brunet.

“I can’t believe he actually did that!”

“And people consider us outlaws? We would never lower ourselves like that!”

“How cruel can you be?!”

“What kind of sick man would do such a thing?”

“You heathen!”

“You should burn in hell for that!”

Woohyun sighed, getting fed up with all the yelling directed at him.

> “There goes the final criminal,” Hara mentioned. L appeared behind the cop, aiming his gun at him. The cop turned around, and L pulled the trigger.

Cheering filled the room. Several people walked up to L and patted him on the back.

“Nice aiming, L!”

“Damn! You took his whole head off!”

“You have to teach me how you did that!”

“Will you be the father of my unborn children?”

“Can you be my  _daddy_?”

“Can I  _call you daddy_?”

_What the hell?!_  Woohyun screamed in his head.

> “It’s a very sad, sad day for South Hallow,” Hara lamented, fading back onto the screen. “There will be a memorial service tomorrow morning with a wake afterwards. Police are all over the city looking for this man.”
> 
> A picture of Woohyun, the one the cop took earlier with his strange device, appeared on the screen.
> 
> “If anyone sees this man, beware! Do not attempt to apprehend the man yourself. Call the authorities, and they’ll handle it. Your safety is far more important. The police have issued a warning for everyone to stay inside till they catch this man.”

Sungyeol pressed a dot on his gadget, promptly shutting the device off.

“I say we turn this man in!” Someone shouted.

“It’s obvious he’s not a spy for the government!”

“If we harbor the guy here, that could spell death for us all!”

“I’ll throw him to the police myself, if I have to!”

“Enough!” Sunggyu bellowed, shutting everyone up. “I’ll decide what we should do with him.”

“You may be our leader, Sunggyu, but this should be settled by a vote. I think we all have a right to voice our opinions about keeping someone like him here,” someone suggested.

“Yeah, I think it’s fairer that way!” Another agreed.

Woohyun frowned at the twist of events. He didn’t think he was going to be kicked out of here so soon. He didn’t even get a chance to eat yet.

“Fine,” Sunggyu looked at everyone, his eyes eventually landing up on Woohyun. The younger had his arms crossed, staring back at the caramel haired man. “We’ll vote.” He moved away from the crowd so that he could see everyone.

A chorus of yeses filled the room.

“Okay. Raise your hand if you want this guy out of here.”

Majority of the room raised their hands, even Sunggyu.

“Now who wants him to stay?”

Only Sungjong and another man with dark blue hair raised their hand. Woohyun smiled at the younger, happy to know that Sungjong didn’t mind that he apparently  _assaulted_  a cop. He gave a small smile to the blue haired fellow as well, even though he had no clue who he was.

Sunggyu frowned as he realized some people didn’t raise their hands at all. “Raise your hand if you don’t really care what happens to him.”

L, Sungyeol, and Hoya raised their hands.

“Well, majority wants him out,” Sunggyu resolved. Several people cheered, jumping up and down, fist pumping into the air.

“But Sunggyu!” Sungjong ran up to him. “I really think we should let him stay! I believe that he’s… well you know,  _not from around here_.” He didn’t want everyone knowing Woohyun’s story.

“Sorry Sungjong. This is a democracy, and everyone wants him gone.” He walked up to Woohyun, grabbing him by the arm. “I’ll personally take you to the surface and give you to the police.”

Woohyun panicked. He didn’t want leave. Well, he did, but he just wanted to go back home. He didn’t want to be taken to the police. After his encounter with them earlier, he knew he needed to stay as far away from them as possible.

The brunet struggled and resist against Sunggyu as the latter dragged him to the headquarters. He needed to think of something fast, anything to get him out of this predicament.

“Wait!” Woohyun raised his hand, gaining everyone’s attention and successfully stopping Sunggyu in his tracks. “Can I at least say something?”

“You got five seconds,” Sunggyu glowered at the younger.

“I’ll do anything to stay here with you guys and not be taken to the police,” he pleaded.

“There’s nothing you can do here that already isn’t provided.”

“But… But…”

“Five seconds is up!” He then proceeded to continue his journey to the door with Woohyun in tow.

“I... I can cook!” He claimed, stating the first thing that popped up in his head. Sunggyu stopped in his tracks again, eyeing the brunet suspiciously.

“Really?” Someone in the crowd asked. “You can cook?”

Woohyun nodded, “Yeah, I work in a coffee shop that also makes sweets and deserts. My specialties are tiramisus and pound cakes.”

“What’s tiramisu?” Someone else asked. Everyone looked thoroughly confused about the foods Woohyun named.

“Yeah, what's a pound cake?”

Woohyun felt like flipping a car at the response. “They’re… They’re deserts… They’re sweets. I promise you would like them!”

“Sunggyu,” someone called. “I think we should let him stay. He can make food.”

“Yeah, we’re running low on supplies and since the last cook died…” he didn’t continue.

“How did he die again?” Someone asked.

“I think Sunggyu shot him...”

Woohyun's eyed widen at the answer.  _Maybe going to the police is a better idea..._

A heavy sigh erupted from Sunggyu. “Raise your hand if you want him to stay…”

Everyone in the room raised their hands.


	7. Those Who Had Suffered

The red head sighed as he sat down at his desk. He leaned back in his chair, wondering how long it would take before the higher ups would realize that he has taken charge over the BEQP and gave the scientists a new order. Instead of injecting humans with certain chemicals and serums, the red head would rather have the scientist work on perfecting time traveling.

Sure, super soldiers would really benefit the country and better help the nation fight against outsiders, but at the rate the current war with Greywyn was going, South Hallow would lose. That's where super soldiers came in. If they had an army of super soldiers, they would win without a doubt. There was no way they could lose the war. They couldn’t afford that. No matter how long ago the previous war was, South Hallow could not lose again.

The country and its people were already suffering enough.

But… maybe losing the war is for the best?

If they lost, Greywyn would take over. It would be a new start for South Hallow and its citizens. Everyone could start anew. Women and children wouldn’t have to suffer anymore. Young men and fathers wouldn’t be taken from their homes and thrown onto the front lines.

People would stop being sacrifice for the  _sake of science_.

The red haired man snorted at his train of thoughts. Who cared about South Hallow? Who cared about its people? Who cared about the war? Who cared about its past, present, and possible future?

The red head surely didn’t. All he cared about was finally achieving the ability to time travel. And not just time traveling a few minutes back in time or into the future. The red head wanted to go back  _far_  in time.

To the time where everything was peaceful. When all he needed was his family and friends. When he was actually looking  _forward_  to the future. Where there  _was_  no war going on.

When it was just Himchan and himself.

The read head reached across his desk and grasped the picture frame that was laid upon it. A soft smile formed on his face as his eyes fell upon a young man with blond hair. He caressed the picture as if he was touching the man himself.

He was doing it all for him.

He was doing it all for Himchan.

Every action, every move, every thought was wrapped around Himchan. Everything he was doing was all for him.

He promised himself that he would do everything in his power to bring him back. To go back in time and  _save_  Himchan.

His smile turned into a frowned as he eyed the other figure in the picture besides Himchan. An older boy, older than Himchan and himself–but only by a year–had his arms crossed, smiling at the camera. The man had red hair–the same shade as the man holding the picture–chubby cheeks and a beautiful eye smile.

It’s been six years since he had seen them both.

Six years since he had last held Himchan in his arms.

Six years since he had fought alongside the other red head when they were just cadets in the military.

Six years since the three of them got involved with YG.

...Six years since Himchan was killed.

He blamed the red head for everything. His so-called friend was the one who pulled the trigger.

“Yongguk, sir?” A voice pulled the red head out of his thoughts. He turned to the door and saw Daehyun leaning against the door frame. Said man frowned as he saw his boss holding the picture frame  _again_.

That was the  _fifth_  time today he had caught Yongguk holding the frame.

“What do you want Daehyun?” Yongguk frowned, not liking to be interrupted when he was reflecting on the bitter past.

“Our contact called earlier. INFINITE has found one of the few remaining entrances into the BEQP that isn’t heavily guarded,” Daehyun walked further into the room.

“Which ones?”

“The underground tunnels.”

Yongguk gave an exasperated sighed. “I told YG that they needed to do something about the transit system.”

“Sir, I’m not too familiar with the tunnels and the transit system. Exactly where will they lead into the BEQP?”

“Directly into the underground labs,” Yongguk frowned, thinking of all of the possible outcomes that could happen if INFINITE got into the BEQP.

“Should we stop them?” Daehyun pulled his phone out of his pocket, waiting for Yongguk to tell him who to call to handle the resistance group.

“Yes. Who knows what they could do. Knowing that resistance leader… he’d do anything to destroy the laboratories and destroy all of the research and equipment. Have Tao and his boys handle them.” Daehyun nodded and immediately began calling said person.

Yongguk looked back to the picture frame in his hand. His grip on the object tightened as his thoughts went back to the bitter past.

He muttered, “I’m going to bring Himchan back no matter what.” He then glared at the red head in the picture. “Then I’m coming for you. I’ll make you and everyone you care for suffer for what you did.”

* * *

 

“What. Is. That?” Sungyeol peered at the plate of food in front of him. He took off his glasses, wiped them clean with his shirt, and placed them back on his face just to make sure the thing in front of him, Woohyun claimed, was food. He leaned closer to dish, sniffing the aroma that emitted from it. It didn’t smell  _that_ bad.

Sungjong was to his right with a look of pure fascination etched on his face while Hoya was to Sungyeol’s left. He was staring vacantly at meal.

Woohyun frowned, not appreciating the response he received. He work extra hard on the meal to impress the group of resistance members that could easily change their minds and kick Woohyun out, sending him straight to the police.

The four of them were currently in the kitchen of the headquarters.

“How are we supposed to eat this?” Sungjong asked, grabbing a fork. He stabbed the food, trying to get some onto the implement.

It didn’t work.

“Maybe you’re supposed to use a spoon?” Hoya offered. He picked up a spoon and attempted to scoop some of it onto the utensil.

The food slid right off.

“Is this even edible?” Sungyeol’s brows furrowed, looking to Woohyun, who was standing on the other side of the table, watching their response.

“Yes it’s edible!” Woohyun snapped. He walked over to the trio, pushing them out of the way. “It’s called spaghetti! And this is how you eat it–”

“Spaaaageti?”

“Spaghetti.”

“Saaaaagetti?”

“Spaghetti.”

“Spaaaa–”

“It’s spaghetti, damn it! SPA-GHE-TTI!” Woohyun huffed. “And this is how you eat it!” He grabbed the fork, jabbing the meal harshly. He spun the utensil a bit and then pulled away. He presented the fork with spaghetti wrapped around it to Sungyeol, Sungjong, and Hoya.

“Exactly what is spaghetti?” Sungjong asked, taking the fork away from Woohyun.

“It’s an Italian dish,” Woohyun didn’t feel like going into the details and origins of spaghetti. “When one makes spaghetti, they usually use noodles, tomato sauce, some herbs like oregano and basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and sometimes meat.” Sungyeol and Sungjong nodded like they actually knew what the older boy was talking about.

“But… uh,” Woohyun continued. “You guys barely had anything worth using, so it’s just noodles and something that looked like tomato sauce.” This was the best Woohyun could make with all the sparse supplies he had found.

Woohyun couldn’t believe there was no such thing as spaghetti in the future. How did that meal get erased from history? What was wrong with this world?

Sungjong stuffed the fork in his mouth, chewing and swallowing the substance. Sungyeol, Hoya, and Woohyun watched him closely, waiting for his reaction. Sungjong stared into space, trying to find the right words to describe the food.

It had a peculiar taste to it. Something was off about the flavor of the sauce, though. It just didn’t  _taste_ right.

He looked to Woohyun, “What did you use as the sauce?”

“Um,” Woohyun walked to the refrigerator, opening it. He pulled out a jar that had dark red liquid in it. “I used this. This was the only thing I could find that looked remotely like tomato sauce. However, this is much thicker than any sauce I’ve ever used.” He placed the jar on the table. “There were a lot more of these jars in the fridge. I used them all, though. What is it exactly? It’s smelled a little weird.”

Hoya paled when he saw the jar.

Sungyeol’s eyes widened when he saw the jar.

Sungjong whimpered when he saw the jar.

Woohyun’s brows furrowed. He couldn’t understand why the other guys grew quiet. He couldn’t understand why Sungjong looked as if he was going to throw up. “What’s wrong? Was I not supposed to use this? Was this–”

Sungjong rushed out of the room, gulping down the vomit that threatened to push past his lips.

“I’m not sure if you’ve met him yet, but that was Dongwoo’s collection of human blood. Every time he kills someone, if he has the time, he grabs one of the many jars he carries with him and collects that person’s blood as a sort of trophy…” Hoya explained.

“What the hell?!” Woohyun exclaimed.

* * *

 

Sunggyu studied the map in front of him. He had already memorized every possible route in and out of the underground tunnels. From what Sungyeol and Hoya informed him of earlier and from the maps and documents Leeteuk provided, there were only two possible pathways into the BEQP.

All Sunggyu needed to do now were to choose the members he wanted to go on the mission. He planned on going himself. After the last time some of his men attempted to infiltrate the facility, he lost each and every one of them. The caramel haired man was going to make sure no one died this time.

“Have you made a decision?” Dongwoo asked. He was sitting across from the resistance leader, studying the map as well, though how he was studying it was the question, for it’s very difficult to read a map upside down.

But then again, this is Dongwoo were talking about; the same man who evidently keeps jars of blood in the refrigerator.

“What do you think, Dongwoo?” Sunggyu countered. When it came to Dongwoo, he preferred hearing his opinion first.

“There’s no way we could do this tonight. Hoya and Sungyeol just got back not too long, and the entire town is probably swamped with police and security because of what that kid did.”

“What kid?”

“Er, what was his name? …Woohyun, was it?”

“Oh yeah,” Sunggyu scowled at the mention of the brunet.

Being the leader of a major resistance group, giving out countless orders to many people for a cause, fighting a corrupted government, struggling every day to make a difference, not knowing if you’re going to live to see another day was stressful enough. Meeting Woohyun and all of the chaos he caused in  _one day_  was life threatening.

Even if he let his group voted if Woohyun should stay or not, it was ultimately up to him if he wanted to get rid of the younger or not. So why did he let Woohyun stay?

“I think we should either do it tomorrow,” Dongwoo continued. “Or the day after. No matter what we do, there will be security everywhere, though Hoya did mention that the area by the BEQP were lacking with guards. Hopefully when we put this plan in motion, it still won’t be that many on duty.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that they were able to get in and out without any trouble, though?” Sunggyu asked. Ever since Sungyeol mentioned that there could possibly be a mole in the group, Sunggyu became a bit paranoid. Well, paranoid may not be the right term to explain his feeling. Even though Sungyeol wasn’t completely serious with the accusation, Sunggyu knew it couldn’t just be a coincidence.

If there was a double agent in the group, he was going to figure out who they were as soon as possible. Something told Sunggyu that Woohyun really has  _nothing_  to do with YG and the BEQP facility.

Maybe he really was just a drug addict?

“It’s going to be me, you, Hoya, and L that’ll go, investigate, and infiltrate the BEQP–that is if the tunnel entrance really does lead into the building,” Sunggyu ordered.

“L said he didn’t want to go,” Dongwoo informed.

“Why?”

“Something about not thinking this is going to be a good idea and that it's just going to be a waste of time.”

Sunggyu sighed, “Why did we let him join again?”

There was one thing Sunggyu never liked about L, his attitude towards him and his loyalty. One minute L would back you up, fighting alongside you, and the next minute he’d be willing to put a bullet through you skull if you pissed him off. It didn’t matter if you’re on the same side as him.

But then again, Sunggyu did shoot his previous second-in command–before Dongwoo came along–in the chest because he gave Sunggyu a cup of coffee without  _milk_  in it.

How dare he give him coffee without his milk.

Sunggyu couldn’t remember what the man’s name was, though. It’s been a few years. Was it Jinki? Or Jonghyun? Sunggyu wasn’t sure. He just knew it started with a ‘J.’

_Wait…_  Sunggyu thought _. Jonghyun was the idiotic cook. And Jinki was the imbecile who made coffee without milk._

Sunggyu mentally smiled at himself, proud that he was able to remember their names.

“He’s smart–a little too smart if you asked me–and quick. Plus he handles a gun better than half of the people in this group,” Dongwoo elucidated. “What about Sungyeol?”

“Sungyeol? Seriously, Dongwoo? Are we thinking about the same guy? The same Sungyeol who  _shot_  my  _brother_  in the foot because he touched one of Sungyeol’s stupid experiments.”

“So is that a no?”

Sunggyu glowered at the shorter man angrily.

“Okay, fine, no for Sungyeol,” Dongwoo held his hands up in defense. “Who else is there we can take? There’s no one else I can think of that I’m comfortable going on a mission like this with.”

Sunggyu leaned back in his chair, thinking about every single member of his resistance and their abilities. There were a lot of talented and strong people in the group, but he didn’t think none of them could handle a mission like this.

Take Jinyoung’s team, for example. They infiltrated the BEQP. Everyone in the group was killed not even twenty minutes after they set foot in the place. One person survived, though. Sunwoo came back, limping and bleeding profusely. He explained, erratically, everything that happened, only to have his head blown off a moment later.

Turns out, one of the many guards stationed at the BEQP carried a tranquilizer gun of sorts. Instead of knocking the person who was shot unconscious, the bullet would inject some sort of chemical into the body, failing their organs, and ultimately making their head explode an hour after the injection.

Sungyeol was fascinated by the turn of events. He wanted to create a similar weapon like the one that killed Sunwoo. This was one of the many reasons Sunggyu despised Sungyeol. That and him shooting Sungjong in the foot.

“Ooh!” Dongwoo exclaimed. “We should take Woohyun with us!”

“…You really want to die on this mission, don’t you? Why in the world would you want someone we just met, someone who killed a cop–”

“L is the one who killed the cop–”

“Someone who is possibly a spy for the company we’re going to infiltrate, someone who–”

“It was just a suggestion, Sunggyu.”

“Why would you suggest a thing like that?” Sunggyu growled.

“If he’s a spy like you claim him to be, then maybe if we take him to the BEQP, we could use him as bait and find out from his boss or something what is exactly going on down in the labs.”

Sunggyu thought for a moment, not finding the idea stupid. “And say that we were wrong this entire time. Say that he actually isn’t a spy. That he really is just some kid who actually  _time traveled_. What then?”

“Everyone and their grandmas know that YG and the BEQP are trying to perfect time traveling. They would do anything to get their hands on something that could possibly help them in their research. We could still use Woohyun as bait. We could give him to those bastards in exchange for information, for why they're really kidnapping the citizens of South Hallow, and what they’re really doing with them.”

“What if they don’t take the bait? What if they kill Woohyun instead?” Sunggyu didn’t like the idea of Woohyun getting killed simply because their plan didn’t work. His hands were already stained with blood by the numerous people he had killed in his past. If Woohyun died because him and his plan, it wouldn’t sit well with him. His conscience wouldn’t have it. It would eat him up alive. He hated it when someone innocent was killed because of him and INFINITE. Even someone like Woohyun and his  _time traveling tale._

“What’s the problem with that? You’ve been complaining nonstop about the guy ever since he walked in here with L and Leeteuk. Wouldn’t it be better to be killed than taking him to the police like everyone initially wanted and possibly be tortured for the rest of his life? You know better than anyone what’s it like to be in the custody of the police. You know how they are… Even though I haven’t actually properly met and talked to him yet, I could just tell he’s the fragile type, getting sensitive over every little thing. He doesn’t even look like he could hurt a fly. Maybe a police officer, but not a fly. That kid wouldn’t last a day in the hands of the authorities,” Dongwoo concluded.

The room grew quiet as Sunggyu thought over everything Dongwoo said. He didn’t really care for Woohyun. Sure, the brunet called him a douche–which he had never heard of before, but he know it was an insult–it’s obvious he speaks before thinking, and his explanation about how he ended up in South Hallow made him sound like a dumbass, but that didn’t mean he wanted to guy to die if their plan failed.

Either, one, he give Woohyun up to the police, resulting in him being torture for the rest of his life or shipped off like all the other citizens of South Hallow to god knows where, two, be used as bait for his and Dongwoo’s plan, possibly getting killed if everything went wrong, or three, stayed here at the headquarters, making food for everyone.

(Sunggyu had no clue about the spaghetti fiasco going on in the kitchen right about now.)

Sunggyu sighed. He hated making decision like this, especially if the decision could end up costing someone’s life.

“I honestly don’t know what to do…” The caramel haired man muttered.

“We could always ask him. He has a right to choose what could possibly happen to him, right?” Dongwoo proposed. “His opinion on the matter is important, I think. Everyone’s opinion matters–”

“Unless it’s Lee Sungyeol’s.”

“Unless it’s Lee Sungyeol’s,” Dongwoo agreed.

“Fine,” Sunggyu nodded, standing up. “We’ll do it your way.” Dongwoo fist pumped, happy that Sunggyu finally agreed to do something his way. “You’re going to be the one who asks him.”

Dongwoo groaned. He hated it when Sunggyu made him do things like this.  He’s the one who said the leader should be the one to ask, not him.

Dongwoo pouted as he try to think a way to approach Woohyun and ask him if he wanted to be bait or not and possibly getting shot in the end if everything went wrong.


	8. Those Who Are Suffering

"Here you go,” Hoya mumbled, stopping in front of a door. Woohyun opened the door and walked into an empty bedroom. Before going into the meeting room with Dongwoo earlier, Sunggyu had ordered Hoya to take Woohyun to one of the spare rooms they had. However, they stopped by the kitchen first, wanting Woohyun to make them something to eat first.

That was a mistake.

The bedroom was pretty plain, just a small twin sized bed in the corner and another door leading to, what Woohyun assumed to be, the bathroom. There were no windows, but the entire ceiling was made out of glass, showing the night time sky.

“We’re running low on spare bedrooms, so this is the best we have at the moment,” Hoya continued. “That door leads to the bathroom. I’ll have someone come by in a second to give you some toiletries. There’s your bed,” he pointed to said object. “There’s the floor. There’s the wall. There’s–”

“I get it,” Woohyun scoffed.

“Just making sure. Oh yeah, since this is one of our old rooms, there’s nothing you can do about covering the ceiling. So I highly suggest you sleep with face in the pillow so that you won’t be blinded by the sun come morning. Just try not to suffocate yourself.”

Woohyun looked up. “Aren’t we underground? How is it that we can see the outside world?”

“Advanced solar technology that gives us the ability to make our walls and ceilings barren, channeling sunlight and…” he trailed off as Woohyun gave him a puzzled look. “Um, basically, with the technology and equipment that we have set up here, we can broadcast what’s going on…” Woohyun kept giving him a confused expression. “We have video cameras outside that transmit the images they record onto our walls and ceilings. We use it to keep an eye on anyone that approaches the warehouse above, but most of us use it as a way to make it feel like we’re actually outside and such.”

“Why not just go outside?”

“Because we’re all criminals in the eyes of people who don’t support our cause. All of our faces, at one point in time, have been on the news, wanted posters, and in the police's criminal database. About ninety percent of the people in INFINITE could easily be recognized if we were to walk outside. It would be dangerous to walk outside.” Woohyun nodded, understanding Hoya’s explanation.

The brunet walked over to the bed and sat down. He looked up again, observing the night time sky. Stars littered the sky. The last time Woohyun looked up at the heavens, a shooting star propelled itself across it. Woohyun frowned. He was never ever going to wish upon a star again. 

“Are you really from the past?”

Woohyun slightly jumped, forgetting that Hoya was still in the room. Said man was leaning against the doorframe, watching him. He seemed generally curious about the matter.

“Who told you?” He asked back.

“I overheard Sungjong and Sunggyu talking about it before the, uh, spaghetti incident,” Hoya visibly shivered when he mentioned the kitchen fiasco.

Woohyun wondered if Sungjong was alright.

“This is the year 2862 SD, right?” Hoya nodded. “Well, I was born in 1991 CE. That would make me well over 5000 years old. The only plausible explanation I can think of is time travel. But for the record, Leeteuk is the one who came up with it first.”

“Time travel…” Hoya mumbled but loud enough for the brunet to hear. “The government has been working on that concept for a very long time. I’m pretty sure they would be ecstatic to find out about someone like you. If they ever got their hands on you… I don’t even want to think about the experiments they’d put you through.”

“Is the government in this world really  _that_  bad?” Woohyun was never really big on politics. Sure, he always did his part when it came to voting for whoever should be a city official and the like, but he never paid much attention to it. He knew all governments were corrupted in some way, some more so than others, but the thought of a government that forced people out of their homes to be experimented on was just terrible.

What happened in the past to create a world such as this?

To grow up in a world like this must’ve been hell, though that would explain why everyone seemed so hostile.

To think Suji could’ve grown up in a world like this.

Who knows how long Woohyun was going to be here in the INFINITE headquarters or in this time period in general, but while he was here, he was definitely going to figure out where his mother was. He hoped this was the same time she claimed she was from. He  _hoped_  he would be able to recognize her. She would look much younger and possibly be somewhere around his age.

“You have no idea,” Hoya answered, his expression turning dark. “If you really want to know, then ask Sunggyu or Dongwoo. Sunggyu knows more about the terrors of the government than anyone I know.”

Woohyun turned from Hoya, giving a snort of indignation at the mention of Sunggyu. There was no way he was going to ask the caramel haired man about the government. He would rather not see that man ever again. He was a jerk with anger management issues that was willing to throw someone innocent, like himself, to the police.

“By the way,” Woohyun spoke, turning back to Hoya. “Do you know someone by the name of Suji–?”

Hoya was gone.

That jerk left without saying anything.

Woohyun frowned, missing another opportunity to ask about his mother. He shook his head and lay down. He wiggled and squirmed and rolled around till he was comfortable on the bed.

Woohyun looked up at the transparent window, observing the sky again. The moon was in full view. The brunet noted that this moon was much bigger and brighter than the one in his time. The light it reflected from the sun and the stars that it surrounded illuminated the room. Seeing a moon this big reminded the brunet of when he took astronomy his freshman year in college. He loved everything about the stars, the planets, the galaxies, and the universe it surrounded.

Thinking about the astronomy class reminded Woohyun that his college classes for the fall semester was going to start on Monday. He forgot to tell Eli so that he needed to either change his shift at the café or become a part-time worker again. It was unfortunate, though, Woohyun thought, he was probably going to miss the first day of school.

Who knows how long Woohyun would be in this time. He wasn’t even sure how he got here. And he had no clue how to get back. What if he couldn’t go back? What if he was permanently stuck here in the future?

Besides school, he would miss work next week. He wouldn’t be able to see his friends at school or his friendly co-workers at the café. He wouldn’t be to greet the evil, old lady who lived next door to him. He wouldn’t be able to finally figure out exactly why his brother disappeared five years ago. He wouldn’t be able to visit his mother’s grave and tell her what’s been happening in his life.

Woohyun was twenty one. He had his whole life ahead of him, yet, due to some unknown circumstances, here he was in the future where he could be killed on the spot for just a little mistake or a misunderstanding. The brunet closed his eyes and prayed that he would be able to find something out about his transporting here and maybe send him back to his time before something dangerous and possibly fatal happen to him.

The young man began to wonder if anyone would notice his sudden absence. Since Suji just died, many of his friends that he would hang out with often would probably assume that he was just grieving over the loss of his mother and not actually missing altogether. If he didn’t find a way home soon, he wondered what would happen to his house and all of his possessions. Would they sell it? Or possibly give it away to his close friends–that is if they actually wanted anything of his.

Like any young adult, Woohyun’s most prized possession was his laptop. Everything from his school work, his personal information, his billings and account data, his  _life_  was stored on there. It broke the brunet’s heart at the thought of never seeing the machine again.

“Oh god,” Woohyun choked, his emotions and feelings becoming unbearable. “All the porn on my laptop…”

Woohyun felt like crying on the spot.

“Are you okay? I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” a new voice said. Woohyun opened his eyes and looked to the new voice. A young man with indigo blue hair was standing in the doorway, looking a bit hesitant at Woohyun. It was obvious that the man had something important to say to Woohyun but seemed a little tentative to even walk in the room completely.

Woohyun sat up, swallowing the sob that threatened to come out of his mouth. All those erotic videos… “I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed right now.”

The blue haired man nodded as he walked further into the room. “I heard from Sunggyu and Sungjong about, uh, the reason why you’re here. It seems like you been through a lot today.”

Woohyun hummed in response. He eyed the blue haired man in front of him. He remembered seeing the man earlier when everyone was voting to either let Woohyun stay in the headquarters or not. He and Sungjong were the only ones who voted for him to stay.

It was obvious that he was older than the brunet, but definitely shorter. His blue hair was styled similar to Woohyun’s, though seeming to have more volume to it. What surprised the young male the most was the man’s attire. He was wearing an oversized dark brown hoodie and washed out skinnies with a few rips here and there around his knees and thighs.

The brunet had never been so happy to see a  _normal_  looking outfit before.

“I guess I should introduce myself,” the man muttered, feeling a bit disturbed from Woohyun’s fixed gaze on him. “I’m the second-in-command of INFINITE. The name’s Jang Dongwoo.” He held his hand out so he could shake Woohyun’s.

“You’re the guy with the jars of blood!” Woohyun gasped, covering his mouth with one hand and pointing dramatically at Dongwoo with the other.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Woohyun squeaked, lowering his hands. He hoped that Dongwoo wasn’t here to murder him and use his blood as a replacement.

“Right,” Dongwoo frowned, lowering his hands. He was a little put off by Woohyun’s weird actions. “First off, I would like apologize for Sunggyu’s behavior towards you this evening.”

“Why are you apologizing for him?”

“Sunggyu… Sunggyu is… complicated. He has been through a lot, so much that both you and I wouldn’t even be able to comprehend the horrors he has seen and, unfortunately, caused. The things he had gone through are the reasons why he is the way he is. I feel that the least I can do is apologize for his actions.”

“So… is that the only reason why you’re here? To apologize for Sunggyu?” Woohyun asked; he had a bad feeling that whatever Dongwoo really had to say was not good.

Dongwoo shook his head. “May I?” He gestured to the bed, wanting to sit down. Woohyun moved over a bit as Dongwoo could sit down on the edge. The blue haired man eyed Woohyun quietly.

“You are from the past.” It was more of a statement than a question. The brunet nodded his head.

“Prove it.”

“What?”

“I need you to prove that you’re from the past.”

“Why? Are you going to kick me out if I don’t?” Woohyun frowned. How was he to prove that he was from the past? Tell him who the current president in his country was? If that was the case, though, Woohyun would be kicked out instantly. He could not remember who the president of South Korea was.

_I think the president was Park Geun Hye… Or was it Barack Obama? …Wait, Obama isn’t a Korean name…_

“I won’t kick you out. I’m not that cruel, but I really need some sort of proof that you’re from the past,” Dongwoo urged.

“Uh, well,” a look of concentration formed on Woohyun’s face as he tried to think of important events that happened in 2012 that could prove he’s actually from the past. “Psy released his Gangnam Style song back in July…”

“Psy?”

“You know, that guy… who did that song… about the lifestyle associated with the Gangnam District of Seoul…”

“Seoul?” Woohyun looked at Dongwoo like he suddenly grew an extra head.

“Um, oh,” he continued. “There was that guy who went into outer space and jump back down to earth, breaking the sound barrier and some world records as well.” Dongwoo gave him a blank stare.

“The new Batman movie came out,  _The Dark Knight Rises_ –”

“Oh my gosh!” Dongwoo exclaimed, quickly standing up. “I. Love. Batman!” The blue haired man unexpectedly pulled his hoodie off and showed his black short sleeve shirt with the iconic batman logo on it to Woohyun. “No one, and I mean  _no one_  has ever heard of Batman before! That movie is so old, like 5,000 years old!” Dongwoo looked (and acted) like a child who received a lot of cash from the tooth fairy.  

“You must really be from the past!” Dongwoo kept on, bouncing on his feet in excitement. A huge smile was plastered on his face. “It was by pure luck that I came across Batman. I was going through some of my parent’s belongings when I was a kid–like five years old–and I came across this super, old, dusty box. The box was filled with photo albums and newspaper clippings. The time on the pictures and papers dated all the way back to the 1900s! Back then, I didn’t really understand what I was looking at, but it turned out that that box belonged to my great-great-great times two hundred grandfather who was born in the 1990s, who collected his parents and grandparents items as well!”

“So where does Batman play into this?” Dongwoo was talking too much for Woohyun. The brunet was starting to lose interest in the conversation.

“Besides newspapers and photo albums, there were a lot of memorabilia stuffs revolving around Batman! I read all of the comics that were in the box! I played with all of the action figures! I–”

“Okay, I get it,” Woohyun interrupted. “You got hooked on Batman after going through your grandpa’s stuff. You know, you remind me of my boss at the café that I work at. His name is Eli, and he was obsessed with Batman too.” Woohyun shook his head at the thought of the several conversations Eli had with Woohyun while at work about Batman. “So Batman isn’t popular during this time?”

“Nope, ask anyone on the street, young or old, and no one will know what you’re talking about if you mention batman.”

“Where did you get the shirt from then?” He pointed to Dongwoo’s Batman shirt.

“Made it myself!” He seemed very proud of his shirt. Dongwoo sat down next to Woohyun again. “Sorry about me spazzing like this. You have no idea what it’s like to be the only one into this sort of thing. I’m so happy I met someone else who likes Batman–”

“I never said I liked Batman,” Woohyun intervened, shaking his head.

“What?”

Woohyun, oblivious to the sudden deathly glare directed towards him, explained further, “I cannot stand Batman. I actually don’t really like DC Comics and their superheroes in general. I’m more of a Spiderman/Marvel fan. Now we can talk about Spiderman  _all day_ , especially Toby Maguire, who played Spiderman in the movies! He was so hot!” Woohyun gushed over the American actor.

Woohyun lost count how many times he had dreamed and fantasized over being Toby Maguire’s sex slave. He would save that story and its details for another day, though.

“Spiderman?” Dongwoo’s glare softened at the mention of a different superhero.

“Yeah, but we can talk about him later. Was there some reason as to why you wanted me to prove myself to you? To prove that I’m from the past?”

“Oh yeah,” Dongwoo’s face and disposition grew grim and serious. “Do you know what INFINITE is?”

Woohyun shook his head. “Not really, but I gather that you guys are some sort of group? Or organization? You guys oppose the government or something similar?”

“Pretty much. INFINITE is a resistance group that Sunggyu formed to fight and rebel against the government that took over our country about 3,000 year ago. At first, it wasn’t bad. The people that took over, they… they wanted peace originally. Peace and prosperity. Everything was good. Our country flourished and grew. Losing the war was the best thing that had ever happened South Hallow.

“But about a good twenty or so years ago, our monarch, the King of South Hallow, a direct descendant of the people who originally conquered our country, died. And a man named Yang Hyung Suk, a military general, took over. That’s when everything changed. He changed everything. He became a dictator by force, by intimidation, and by threating those who still had power. He killed every single person who was a possibility for being our next king. He made sure that he could only be the ruler of South Hallow. He wanted to change the country and rule with an iron fist. He wanted to start wars with other countries and gain more power and land but at a deadly cost.”

“Deadly?” Woohyun repeated.

Dongwoo leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs. “South Hallow was in no condition to go to war with other countries. Even though it has been a few thousand years since the last war, South Hallow was still recovering. But Yang Hyung Suk, now calling himself and his council and such ‘YG,’ came up with a plan. A perfect way to win the war. If he could achieve this plan, there would be no way South Hallow could ever lose again. If YG could perfect  _time traveling_ , he could send his soldiers and men back in time and infiltrate and attack other nations, catching them off guard. And eventually take over.”

“Everything always seems to come back to the concept of time traveling,” Woohyun frowned.

“Yeah, but you see, there was a problem. Wanting to time travel and all was nice, but who was going to do it? YG gathered the smartest scientist who lived in South Hallow and created the BEQP, the Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox. He had the scientist experiment and test theories relating to the concept. But they didn’t have anyone to test these theories  _on_.”

“So they used the citizens of South Hallow,” Woohyun finished.

“Exactly,” Dongwoo nodded. “YG and the BEQP forced men and women out of their own homes so that they could become test subjects. They even experimented on the elderly.”

“What about the children?”

“If they were old enough, and when I say old enough, I mean, around the age of thirteen and older, they forced those kids into the army. If they were younger, then they were sent off to an orphanage.”

“The army?!” Woohyun was appalled by the acts of the government.

“I was lucky enough to spend majority of my teenage years with my parents. We lived on the outskirts of South Hallow, in areas that YG and the BEQP didn’t traverse often. But others weren’t so lucky.”

“Is your parents still around?” Woohyun asked.

“Yep,” Dongwoo smiled. “They’re doing fine. The BEQP still hasn’t made it that far to where they live, and I hope they never will. They’re one of the many reasons why I joined INFINITE, so I could protect them and make sure they never go through the horrors that so many others had.”

“Sungjong said his parents were taken away a few years ago.”

“Yeah, Sungjong was one of the few children who lived in the heart of South Hallow with his parents. Not every family was ripped apart by YG. Some, who belonged to the high class society, had the option of leaving home to _help_  the country or stay with their families. Sungjong belong to one of those families. I won’t tell you what happened, though. That’s Sungjong’s business, and if he wants you to know, he’ll tell you.

“As the years gone by, more and more people were taken from their homes. More and more people were experimented on, but the furthest anyone had gotten with time travel was a few minutes in the past or the future. They couldn’t find out what they were doing wrong. About six years ago, right before INFINITE was created, the BEQP finally made a breakthrough. I remember it being all over the news. The BEQP finally achieved time traveling, they actually successfully sent someone in the past–more than ten years–and had them come back in one piece, but something went wrong. There a huge explosion in the facility. Several people died, and all the information collected for the successful traveling was lost.”

“What kind of explosion? How was it caused?”

“No one knows, but that’s when YG decided to put time traveling on hold.  South Hallow had just declared war against the neighboring country Greywyn. YG wanted the BEQP to focus on something else, something else that could give them the advantage. Whatever this advantage was, it was detrimental to the people of South Hallow. The BEQP began to kidnap more and more citizens every day. It didn’t matter if they were children. They took anyone they could find. That’s why INFINITE was created. Sunggyu wanted to fight back. Fight for the people of South Hallow. Stop the corrupted government from killing and experimenting for the sake of  _science_ and  _war._ ”

Besides being a rude, pompous asshole, Woohyun thought it was quite brave and heroic of Sunggyu to create such a group. “What exactly is YG having the BEQP experiment on now?”

“We don’t know. Tomorrow evening, Sunggyu, Hoya, someone else, and I will infiltrate the BEQP underground facility where supposedly all the experiments and kidnapped people are taken to. We’re going to figure out what they've been doing and exposed them and hopefully destroy the place as well.”

“Well, good luck with the mission. I hope you guys come back safely and in one piece,” Woohyun patted Dongwoo on the back.

“The mission isn’t as simple as that, Woohyun,” Dongwoo turned to the younger man.  The brunet’s brows furrowed, wondering what the blue haired man meant. “We need your help, Woohyun. We need you to be that other person who comes on the mission with us.” Dongwoo’s eyes glinted with an emotion Woohyun couldn’t pinpoint. Desperation? Hope? Anticipation? Hunger?

“You want me to go on this dangerous mission with you guys?” Woohyun frowned. Dongwoo nodded. “No to the fucking way, Dongwoo. What could you possibly use me for?”

“Hear me out, Woohyun. Even though the BEQP stopped working on time traveling, they would still jump at the chance to use whatever they could to help their research with the concept. Using someone that  _actually_ time traveled could benefit them.”

“So you want to give me up to them?” Woohyun scoffed, not believing that Dongwoo would do something like this. He thought the man was nice and obviously had a thing for superheroes. But then again, this was Dongwoo, the same man who had jars of blood in the refrigerator.

“No, no, no! We’re not actually going to give you to them. We would like to use you as bait. We’re going to negotiate with the head honcho down there. We’re going to ask for all of the information they have and about the experiments that are going on down there in exchange for you, but we’re not really going to give you up. It would just be a front. After we get what we want, then we’ll blow up the place!”

“Why me, though? Can’t you get someone else? And plus, how would they believe me?”

“I believe you,” Dongwoo confirmed.

“Okay, but no one else does.”

“It doesn’t matter. The fact that we’re presenting someone who time traveled is probably good enough.”

“ _Probably?_ ”

“I promise you won’t get hurt. Hoya, Sunggyu, and I will protect you with our lives. Please, Woohyun!” Dongwoo begged.

“I don’t know,” Woohyun mumbled, looking down. He fiddled with the fabric of the bed sheets, trying to figure out what good would come out of this mission. “Why can’t you use someone else?”

“There’s no one else in INFINITE that we’re comfortable taking on a mission such as this.”

Woohyun shook his head, keeping silent. He dared not look up at the blue haired man. He didn’t want to see the crestfallen look on his face.

Dongwoo sighed, standing up. He couldn’t blame the younger. If he was in his position, he wouldn’t want to risk his life for a group of people he barely knew. He walked to the door of the bedroom. Without turning around, he apologized, “I’m sorry for pushing you, Woohyun. It’s just… this is the first time, in a long time, that we had an opportunity like this. We just want to save our country from those bastards.” Woohyun maintained his silence. Dongwoo sighed again and left the room.

Dongwoo frowned, thinking about what he could say to Sunggyu. To tell him his plan didn’t work. To tell him Woohyun refused to endanger his own life by going on this mission. He and Sunggyu were going to have to think of another plan. Maybe–

“Dongwoo,” the blue haired man heard his name from behind. He turned around and saw Woohyun standing a couple of feet away from him. The brunet felt sick with apprehension, but his conscious wouldn’t let him stay in the headquarters of INFINITE when there were millions of people suffering outside. If he could make a difference, then he would at least try.

“Huh?”

“I… You promise that nothing bad will happen to me?”

“Of course. Sunggyu and I will do everything in our power to protect you,” Dongwoo reassured.

“Okay,” Woohyun sighed. “I’ll go with you guys.”

“Thank you,” Dongwoo smiled.


	9. Those Who Will Suffer

Woohyun buried his face into the pillow, avoiding the few rays of sunlight filtering into his room. From how high the sun was in the sky, yet not completely shining down on him, Woohyun concluded it was morning, but the color of the sky itself indicated something different. The sky was a dark shade of sunset.

Woohyun barely slept last night, so he was pretty sure it couldn’t be past five o’ clock in the afternoon yet. He peeked from the pillow he was using to cover his head and observed the sky.

“Our sky is always a shade of orange. When it’s not the evening, they sky is a constant sunset,” Sungjong explained from the doorway, giving the door a few knocks, even though he was already inside the room. Woohyun sat up, startled from the younger’s boy sudden appearance.

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“I didn’t. But it thought I share that little info for you,” Sungjong smiled, walking further into the room. “How was your first night here in 2862 SD?”

“Great,” Woohyun lied. He had a terrible night. His thoughts were running all over the place. The fact that he truly was in another time, another world was starting to sink in. He almost felt sick to his stomach at the thought. “What time is it, by the way?”

“Half past eleven,” the teenager looked at the watch on his wrist. “You still have enough time for breakfast, though if you do want to eat, I’ll make you something because I don’t think I’ll ever trust you again when it comes to making meals.”

“I swear I had no clue that was blood,” Woohyun claimed.

“Ahem,” a new voice interrupted. Sunggyu walked into the room, carrying a pile of clothes. “Hope I’m not interrupting something.”

“Not at all, bro. I was just greeting Woohyun.” Seeing that Sunggyu had something important to say and give to Woohyun, Sungjong bid farewell to the brunet and the caramel haired leader and left the room.

“Get dressed because we’ll be leaving for the mission in an hour or so.”

“So soon?” Woohyun’s brows furrowed. It was still the morning time.

“Here take these,” Sunggyu grunted, throwing a pile of clothes at Woohyun. The brunet glanced at the attire. It was completely different from what he was expecting. The clothes consisted of black skinnies, a white tee, and a black hoodie. Both the shirt and jacket had the batman logo on it. “I wasn’t sure what to get you, so I raided Dongwoo’s closet. You’re smaller than him, but they should fit you nonetheless.” Sunggyu handed Woohyun black combat boots to complete the outfit.

“Thanks,” Woohyun muttered, completely thrown off by Sunggyu’s sudden kindness.

“Uh huh, and take this too.” Sunggyu offered the brunet a semi-automatic pistol. Woohyun placed the clothes on the bed and grabbed the gun out of Sunggyu’s hand carefully. He never held a gun before. “Dongwoo, Hoya, and I will protect you during this mission, but in case something happens, use this to protect yourself.”

“But I…” He eyed the weapon with apprehension. “I’ve never…” He looked up at Sunggyu with hesitation. The resistance leader took the gun out of the younger man’s hand and demonstrated how to use the gun.

“The is the trigger. Push this when you want to shoot. It’s loaded so be careful when you’re not using or holding it. When you’re holding it, but not aiming at someone or something, keep your finger off the trigger. A lot of people get hurt or worse killed because someone accidentally pulled the trigger,” Sunggyu explained. “Since you’ve never used a gun before, use both hands while aiming and shooting.” Woohyun nodded as Sunggyu continued to explain. However, the explanation went on and on, and Woohyun felt that he learned the entire history of handguns and pistols.

“How come we’re getting ready to leave now? It’s still the morning,” Woohyun quickly switched the subject, not wanting to hear about guns anymore.

 Sunggyu frowned at the sudden change of subjects, “It’ll take a while for us to reach the BEQP. It’ll probably take us from thirty minutes to an hour just to reach the place. Who knows how long it’ll actually take us within the building itself before we accomplish our mission.”

An awkward silence followed. Woohyun kept quiet, not sure on what exactly to say to the leader, for he didn’t want to get punched in the face again or getting suddenly accused of being a spy.

“I guess I should go,” Sunggyu muttered, turning to leave. Woohyun nodded.

“Sunggyu,” he called. The leader of INFINITE glanced over his shoulder. “Thanks again for the clothes and the gun.” Sunggyu waved his hand in acknowledgement and left. Woohyun then headed to the bathroom and proceeded to take a shower and get ready for the mission.

After a little over an hour of preparing himself for the mission, physical and mentally, the brunet walked into the main room of the headquarters where everyone was in yesterday as they watched the news. He saw Dongwoo standing in the middle, fiddling with the straps on his pants and shirt.

Woohyun walked up to Dongwoo, who started pocketing several knives and guns into the various pockets, holsters and placeholders that decorated his outfit. Woohyun was quite disappointed to see that the blue haired man was now wearing an outfit similar to the rest of the members of INFINITE. He noticed that Hoya was standing next to the elder, fixing his gear as well.

Dongwoo was carrying a backpack on his back. It looked heavy. Woohyun wondered what could possibly be inside. “Hey, Dongwoo, Hoya,” Woohyun greeted, a small smile forming on face.

Hoya gave a small nod, and Dongwoo looked up and waved at the brunet, seeming overly ecstatic that Woohyun was still going with them on the mission. “Good afternoon, Woohyun! Are you excited for today?”

“Uh, not really. I’m still debating if I made the right choice by saying yes to you.”

“Understandable,” Dongwoo nodded his head. “Like I said last night, we’ll protect you.”

“What’s in the bag?” Woohyun asked, wanting to get his mind off of the mission and the possibility of him dying today.

“This?” Dongwoo took off his bag, placing it on the ground. It made a loud impact when it did.

“Yeah, it looks heavy. What’s in it?” Woohyun leaned forward, trying to get a good look as Dongwoo unzipped the backpack.

“Jars!” He beamed, pulling out a semi-large, empty jar. The same looking jar that Woohyun used to make the spaghetti dish for Sungyeol, Sungjong, and Hoya last night.

“A-A j-jar?” Woohyun stammered, backing away slowly from the blue haired man. Hoya backed away from the blue haired man as well. He didn’t want to get caught up in this conversation.

“Uh huh! It seems that, last night, someone used all of my jars that I put in the refrigerator. So hopefully while we’re on this mission, I’ll be able to fill some of them up again.” He gave a warm smile to the cylinder container in his hand. “I have no clue who used my jars, but once I find out,” his face darkened suddenly, and the grip he had on the jar tightened to the extent that the container burst into pieces. “I’ll make sure they’ll never live to see another day!”

“Well, uh, I hope you find that person,” Woohyun squeaked, continuing to back away. He was afraid that he would accidentally let it slip that it was he who touched his jars. As Woohyun took more steps backwards, he crashed into someone behind him. He heard a small grunt from the person he crashed into. When he turned around, he saw Sunggyu glaring at him menacingly.

“Sorry,” Woohyun bowed his head.

“You guys ready?” Sunggyu ignored the brunet. Woohyun, Hoya, and Dongwoo nodded. “Okay then, let’s go!” A group of resistance members followed the guys to the entrance of the headquarters, giving them many cheers and encouragements for the mission.

“Good luck!” Sungjong yelled from the crowd, waving to them as they entered the elevator. Woohyun smiled and waved back. The door slammed shut in front of them as Sunggyu pressed a code into the keypad on the wall of the elevator.

_1.4.1.6.2.2.2.8._

That was the code the caramel haired leader pressed in. Woohyun committed the password to memory for in case he ever needed to leave the underground headquarters in a rush. Who knows what could happen in the future, and knowing a way out of this place was important.

When they reached the surface, they exited the elevator one by one, heading to the door on the other sider of the room. Hoya was in the front with Woohyun following close behind. Dongwoo and Sunggyu took the rear. The quietness and darkness of the warehouse gave Woohyun the creeps. The only sounds that could be heard were his and the other guy’s footsteps. He gripped the gun Sunggyu gave him earlier for in case anything popped out.

Woohyun suddenly lost his footing. He caught himself quickly before a gunshot suddenly rang off in the warehouse, startling everyone.

“What the hell, Woohyun?” Hoya yelled, grabbing the gun out of Woohyun’s hand. Woohyun accidentally pulled the trigger.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Woohyun profusely apologized. “Did I hit you?!”

“If you did, I wouldn’t be standing now would I?”

“I don’t think this was a good idea,” Dongwoo frowned, watching Hoya show Woohyun the proper way of holding a gun. He started to regret persuading Woohyun to come with them. He promised the brunet that they would do everything in their power to protect him, but protecting the younger from  _himself_  was a different situation.

“You’re the one who came up with plan,” Sunggyu scoffed, rolling his eyes. The caramel haired leader walked past the fuming Hoya and apologetic Woohyun and opened the warehouse doors. “It shouldn’t take too long to get to the BEQP from here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. He didn’t give them a chance to respond as he walked out the building.

“We’re not taking the underground passage?” Dongwoo asked, picking up his pace so that he could catch up to Sunggyu. Woohyun and Hoya were right behind them.

“The streets should be pretty empty today, so taking one of the cars shouldn’t be a problem.” They walked down the street from the warehouse, heading to another building. It looked exactly like the warehouse they just exited, but it was considerably much smaller.

“Why would the streets be empty?” Woohyun asked.

“They’re having the funeral and memorial service for the cop that L killed yesterday. The funeral is on the other side of town, nowhere near the BEQP facility. So the streets should be fairly deserted, or at least deserted by any authorities. We’ll still take the back roads just in case, though,” Sunggyu answered, pulling out a set of keys. He used one particular key and unlocked the doors to warehouse number two.

Inside the warehouse was a vast array of cars. Woohyun didn’t get a chance to really look at any of them since Sunggyu and the others were heading towards the last car on the far right in the building. It was a black, medium sized four by four Jeep big enough to hold seven people. There would be plenty of room for the four of them.

“I’m driving!” Dongwoo claimed, bouncing on his feet, raising his hand.

“If he’s driving, then I call shot gun!” Hoya demanded, raising his hand as well. Instead of bouncing like his blue haired comrade, he started jumping up and down.

Sunggyu gave a small chuckle in response, finding his companions childish behaviors endearing. He gave them the go ahead and tossed the keys to the second-in-command of INFINITE.

As they all packed into the car, Sunggyu turned to Woohyun, who was sitting next to him in the backseat, and said, “I suggest you put your seat belt on.”

“Why?” The brunet asked, strapping himself in nevertheless.

Before Sunggyu could respond, Woohyun jerked forward as the car suddenly sped out of the warehouse. The wheels shrieked as the car swerved to and fro, passing and avoiding the few cars that littered the streets. Woohyun felt his heart beat in his throat as Dongwoo’s minacious laughter filled the car.

“That’s why,” Sunggyu answered.

“Dongwoo gets a little…  _excited_  when he’s behind the wheel,” Hoya laughed, finding Dongwoo’s enthusiasm hilarious.

“I see,” Woohyun frowned as he took deep breaths and willed his body and heart to calm down.

The car grew silent as Dongwoo slowed down, keeping close to the current speed limit of the street. Woohyun grew antsy; he was never really one for the quietness. If it was too quiet, like now, the brunet would always retreat into his thoughts. Normally, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Most of the times, Woohyun’s thoughts revolved around his school work or what was going to happen next week on the reruns of  _Spongebob Squarepants_.

Woohyun had the biggest crush on Larry the Lobster.

It was the muscles.

Woohyun always like muscles on a man.

Or lobster in this case.

But as of recently, Woohyun’s thoughts circled around Suji and her passing away. He was desperate to know where she was at the moment. He wanted to know if this was the time she was raised in. If he could just see her, maybe talk to her, he could warn her of her impending doom, her being sent to the past, being ripped away from the people she cared for and loved. He wanted to ask Sunggyu right now while he had the chance, but something stopped him.

Right now didn’t seem like the right time. They were on an important mission to stop whatever was going on at the facility. Bringing up someone who Sunggyu may or may not even know could distract them. They needed to focus on the task at hand. Maybe when they got back–that is, if Woohyun even survives this–he would pull Sunggyu to the side and ask then.

To dispel the silence and keep his thoughts straying off to depressing topics like his mother, he looked to Sunggyu. “What is the BEQP facility like?” Woohyun asked.

“Well,” Sunggyu started. “Shouldn’t you already know? You’re a spy for the government.” Woohyun scoffed, rolling his eyes. He was getting tired of being accused.

“The BEQP is really two buildings combined in one,” Sunggyu explained, looking out the window. “The top portion of the building, or should I say, the above ground part of the building is like any old governmental office building. A lot of officials have meetings and the like inside. Whenever there is a conference with other city officials and country ambassadors, it’s held in there. But the other portion of the facility is down below. There is an entire underground laboratory. It’s somewhat similar to our headquarters, but much greater. I’ve only been down there a few times, so I can’t say much, and I’m pretty sure it’s changed after the explosion. What I do know is that it’s five floors beneath the earth. Four of the floors are run by one scientist dedicated to one role, while the final floor belongs to the heads of the BEQP itself.”

“Who runs the place?”

“The head scientists are Kim Joonmyun and Wu Yifan. Joonmyun handles the above portion of the facility while Yifan handles down below. The overall head of the BEQP, though, both the underground and aboveground portion, is a man named Bang Yongguk.” Sunggyu’s voice was laced with disdain as the names came out of his mouth.

“Wu Yifan,” Dongwoo spoke up, glancing at Woohyun through the rearview mirror. “Is the man we're going to try to give you up to. From the information Leeteuk gave us, Yifan was the main guy, six years ago, doing all the experiments on time traveling before the place exploded.”

Woohyun nodded at all the information given to him. Not a lot of it made sense, but he did get the gist of it. He was just going to have to wait till they get to the facility to see everything for himself.

* * *

 

“They just left the INFINITE headquarters, sir,” Youngjae notified, placing his phone into his pocket. He just received a phone call from their intelligence agent.

The blond waited patiently for his boss to respond as said man’s attention was on the picture frame of the young man with red hair, who Youngjae had never met in person but heard numerous stories of from Junhong and Daehyun, and the blond, Himchan, who he saw as an older brother.

Every day, for the past six years, Youngjae would find Yongguk staring at that frame for long periods of time. Even though it was futile, both he and Daehyun had told the red head countless times to let Himchan and those bitter memories go. Nothing good would come out of constantly plotting revenge against people who wronged him.

But he never listened.

“Did he say who was going?” Yongguk asked, finally putting down the picture frame.

“Jang Dongwoo, Lee Howon, who goes by the name of Hoya, Woohyun–some new guy–and Kim Sunggyu.”

Yongguk frowned at the list of names. Besides Woohyun, he recognized the others. Whenever INFINITE gave them and YG a hard time, one of their names would always pop up under the list of people who were involved in whatever incident they caused.

Especially Kim Sunggyu.

The red haired boss’ brows furrowed at the thought of Sunggyu. That man had caused a lot of problems for Yongguk and his men over the years. If he could get rid of Sunggyu, then INFINITE would fall not long after, but it would be easier said than done. It would be hard to kill Sunggyu–Yongguk would know. But Yongguk likes a challenge. The thought of killing Sunggyu with his own hands brought pure joy to the man’s heart.

“What exactly are they planning on doing?” Yongguk asked, leaning back in his chair.

“It seems that they’re just trying to gather some information about the whereabouts of the citizens that are taken from their homes. They want to expose the facility for what it really is, and blow it up in the process.”

“We can’t afford for INFINITE to get in the way of what I have the scientist doing there.”

“Sir, INFINITE has a lot of followers and supporters throughout the city. If they were to find out what’s really going on in the labs–the inhumane experiments we’re conducting, injecting dangerous and lethal drugs and liquids into the victim’s blood… They would start riots in the city. They would storm government funded buildings. It would be the end of YG and us. We need–”

“Enough,” Yongguk bellowed, instantly shutting Youngjae up. “I know what is needed to be done. You just follow the orders I give you. Have Tao and his boys handle them.”

“Yes sir,” Youngjae bowed. He turned to leave the office, not wanting to say anything more for in case he upset his boss further.

“Youngjae,” Yongguk called just as the blonde walked out. The young man stuck his head back in the room. “Tell Tao to kill them all. Make them all suffer excruciating deaths except for Sunggyu.” Youngjae opened his mouth to question the red haired man, but the look on Yongguk’s face told him otherwise. He instead nodded his head and quickly left, pulling his phone out to give Tao his new mission.

* * *

 

“Dongwoo, take a right up ahead,” Sunggyu commanded. “We’re going to take the underground transit entrance by the broadcasting station. That transit line connects to the one of the entrances that leads into the facility.”

Dongwoo nodded, following Sunggyu’s order. As he turned the corner, he noticed something quickly flying in their direction.

“What is that?!” Woohyun pointed ahead, noticing the same thing as Dongwoo.

Sunggyu leaned forward, trying to figure out what it was. “Shit!” He cursed, realizing what the object was.

It was a rocket grenade.

“Everybody, grab on to something!” Dongwoo swiftly spun the steering wheel, trying to turn the car in a different direction. The tires screeched against the pavement as the car slightly swerved. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal hard, speeding up the car.

Woohyun grabbed onto the door handle with all of his might. His eyes widen in fear as the missile grew closer.

The car narrowly missed the rocket as it speedily flew by, crashing into the building to the right. However, the force of the grenade and the explosion behind threw the car off the ground, spinning it several times in mid-air.

Woohyun was thrown forward violently as the car took to the air; his forehead crashed into the headrest of the driver seat in front of him, propelling him back into his own seat. The seatbelt snapped into place, restraining him to the seat. It pressed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. The sound of glass shattering echoed in his ears as his head jerked to the side, smashing into the window.

The car crashed back onto the ground upside down, flipping and rolling down the street. It came to a screeching halt as it smashed into a parked car on the side of the road. A cacophony of sounds hit Woohyun's ears like a tidal wave as he quickly lost consciousness.


	10. Tricycles, Lions, and Jellyfishes, Oh My

"Did mom really time travel?” Woohyun asked, looking over his shoulder. He gripped the metal chains attached to his seat tightly as he was pushed forward.

“No one can really say for sure,” the voice behind Woohyun answered. “I don’t, though.”

“Why not?” He wondered aloud as he flew backwards. He tucked his feet in, gaining speed, the wind howling in his ears.

“Because,” the voice didn’t continue.

“Because?” He felt a pair of hands push him forward again. He swung his feet in the air to gain more momentum.

“Just because.”

“Aw! Boohyun!” Woohyun whined. As he grew closer to the ground, he kept his feet out. They scraped against the dirt below, slowing him down. He didn’t feel his brother’s hands pushing him. He jumped off the swing as it came to a stop. He turned around to give his brother a big pout.

Boohyun chuckled at his little brother’s behavior and ruffled his hair. “Maybe when you get older, I’ll tell you.”

“How old?”

“Maybe when you’re sixteen–”

* * *

 

Woohyun groggily opened his eyes, feeling something wet trickle down his face.

Rain?

When did it start raining?

His eyesight was blurred. His head was pounding. His surroundings sounded muffled. He could’ve sworn he heard someone calling his name. He wanted to wipe the water off his face, but he couldn’t feel or move his left arm. His right felt okay, though. The pounding in his head intensified as he tried to move.

 Woohyun closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. He lost consciousness soon after.

* * *

 

“What do you know about time traveling?” Boohyun questioned after the waitress placed their food on the table.

“Besides from what I’ve seen on TV, not much,” Woohyun grabbed a pair of chop sticks, immediately digging into his food.

“Well,” Boohyun began to explain. “Time travel is the concept of moving backwards and/or forwards to different points in time.”

Woohyun’s head began to throb immediately. He didn’t know where the pain came from, but it was sharp and severe. He heard faint yelling in the background, but Woohyun wasn’t sure where it was coming from. The restaurant was quite empty, and he didn’t see anyone outside.

He could’ve of sworn he heard his name being called.

“Generally, there are three rules when it comes to time traveling,” Boohyun continued.

“Huh?” Woohyun looked at his brother, confused on what Boohyun was talking about. Was he still going on about this time traveling?

“Three rules, Woohyun. Try and pay attention to what I’m saying,” Boohyun frowned, not looking up from his plate. He was eating spaghetti.

“Is it hot in here, or is it just me?” Woohyun mused, suddenly finding the temperature of the restaurant high. He used his left arm to fan his self. However, it slightly ached as he moved it. Woohyun wasn’t sure why it suddenly hurt, though. He hadn’t accidentally slammed his arm against anything or anyone during soccer practice recently.

Why was suddenly everything hurting?

“It’s just you,” Boohyun chuckled.

> _“Woohyun!”_

The brunet snapped his head to the right. He knew he just heard his name a moment ago. No one was sitting next to him. No one was paying them any attention. Not even Boohyun.

“Rule number one: There is a single fixed history, which is self-consistent and unchangeable. In this version, everything happens on a single timeline, which does not contradict itself and cannot interact with anything potentially existing outside of it.”

Woohyun felt liquid drop on his hand. He looked up wondering where it came from.

Was there a leak coming from the ceiling?

They’re inside, so it couldn’t be rainwater. It was sunny out. It hasn’t rain in a week. Woohyun looked at his hand. The liquid was blood. A few more droplets of blood splashed on his hand.

> _“Wake up!”_

He then felt something trickle from his nose. He wiped his nose with his clean hand. When he looked at it, it was smeared with blood. Woohyun panicked. He looked up to his brother, but the older man wasn’t paying attention. He was still going on about the physics and science of time travel.

“Number two,” Boohyun held up two fingers. He was looking at Woohyun now, but it seemed as if he was looking straight through him, as if he didn’t even notice what was going on with Woohyun. “History is flexible and is subject to change. Changes to history are easy and can impact the traveler, the world, or both. History is change resistant in direct relationship to the importance of the event. In example, small trivial events can be readily changed, but large ones take great effort. ”

The brunet grabbed a napkin, quickly pressing it against his nose, hoping to stop the bleeding. His whole body ached. Woohyun wasn’t sure where this pain was coming from. He hadn’t done anything to cause it. He’d barely moved in his seat, and he only took one bite out of his food.

“Boohyun…” Woohyun whispered. It was getting hard to breathe. “Something’s wrong with me…”

> _“Please wake up!”_

The napkin Woohyun was using was soaked in blood. More blood seemed to dribble from his nose. He grabbed a few more napkins.

“And the final rule: alternate timelines,” Boohyun said. He placed his chopsticks to the side. He was done with his meal. “In this version of time travel, there are multiple coexisting alternate histories, so that when the traveler goes back in time, he/she ends up in a new timeline where historical events can differ from the timeline he/she came from, but her original timeline does not cease to exist. This particular rule occurs more often than the other two.”

> _“WOOHYUN!”_

Woohyun felt he was going to pass out. With a struggle, he stood up. “Boohyun,” he whimpered. The pain intensified with each movement. “I think I need to go to the hospital.” He tried to raise his voice to get his brother’s attention, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper.

“I believe, in your case,” Boohyun looked him straight in the eye. “You’re experiencing rule number two. You’ve time traveled. You’ve slightly altered history for yourself and the people you knew of your time. But because you’ve traveled to the future and not the past, you’ve haven’t caused much change. But if you were to go back in time at this very moment and told someone of the things that would occur in the near future, the future would change. For better or for worse… who knows?”

> _“Please…”_

Boohyun stood up, “But I highly suggest you  _don’t_  tell Suji what’s going to happen to her, that she’s going to get kidnapped, that she’s going to be experimented on, that she’s going to be sucked into a worm hole and never see her friends and love ones again. The results and the future would change drastically. You and I would not be born, for one thing. But it wouldn’t just affect us, but  _Sunggyu_ –”

* * *

 

“Woohyun!”

Woohyun gasped. His eyes snapped open.

He felt a hand on his cheek. Woohyun turned his head slightly to the right. Sunggyu was looking at him. His eyes were stricken with panic. He was mouthing something to Woohyun.

“W-What?” Woohyun wheezed. His chest hurt. The seatbelt was digging right into his diaphragm. He could hardly breathe.

“Are you alright?” He repeated.

With great difficulty, Woohyun shook his head. “Can’t breathe,” he whispered.

Now that his mind and body was completely alert, he realized the situation he was in. He was upside down in the car strapped to his seat. Glass littered the ground above his head. He couldn’t see Dongwoo and Hoya in the front seat. He hoped they were still alive and in one piece.

Woohyun felt liquid continuously trickle down his face. He used his right hand to wipe some of the liquid off.

It was probably blood.

He couldn’t really feel his left arm.

It was probably broken.

Sunggyu reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “It’s probably from the seatbelt. Try not to move; I’m going to cut it.” He gripped the seatbelt that was wrapped tightly around Woohyun.

As soon as the seat belt came apart, Woohyun fell down. His head hit the ground, which was littered with glass, with a loud thud. Woohyun moaned in pain. At least he could properly breathe now, though. With glass digging into his skin and the ripped sleeve of his jacket, Woohyun used his good arm to maneuver his body into a more comfortable position.

“I thought you died,” Sunggyu mumbled as he helped Woohyun.

“What?” He gave the man a strained, puzzled look. It was hard to concentrate on what the older man was saying when his body was screaming in agony.

“You weren’t responding when I called your name.” He grabbed Woohyun by his good arm and tried to pull the brunet out of the broken window of the car.

Woohyun suddenly remembered his dream when he was unconscious. The first dream was of him and Boohyun when they were younger. It was more of a memory than anything else. Boohyun used to always take him to this small playground by their old house. He used to always pester his brother about the various things Suji went on about at home. Boohyun would always stray from the actual subject of the conversation and talk to Woohyun about something else, always telling Woohyun he would explain the ways of their mother when he turned sixteen. But instead of explaining like he promised he would, he disappeared when Woohyun was sixteen.

The second dream, though… It made no sense. What was Boohyun talking about? Rules of time travel? Don’t tell Suji about her future? Woohyun was well aware of the possible consequences from telling his mother about what was to become of her. He had seen enough movies to know the possibilities, but what confused him the most was what did it have to do with Sunggyu?

“I thought I lost you,” Sunggyu admitted, not looking Woohyun in the eye. Woohyun opened his mouth to say something, but Sunggyu continued. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you died in this crash.”

Woohyun’s cheeks tinted red at the statement.

What was Sunggyu trying to say?

Did he actually care if he had died?

“How would we continue the mission, if our bait died? This would have all been for nothing! A waste of our time and a perfectly good car! I think I broke a nail too!”

For a second, Woohyun wished he did die just to spite Sunggyu.

“Sunggyu, hurry up!” Woohyun heard someone yell from outside. It sounded like Hoya.

“Gas is leaking everywhere! The car might catch on fire in any minute!” It sounded like Dongwoo.

“C’mon, we need to hurry,” Sunggyu grunted, grabbing Woohyun’s injured arm to pull him out faster.

“Wait!” Woohyun howled in pain. “Stop pulling!”

Sunggyu immediately released him. “What’s wrong?”

“I think my arm is broken,” Woohyun whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn’t really feel his arm earlier, but now that Sunggyu pulled it, he wasn’t sure what hurt more. The intense throbbing in his head or his broken limb.

“Sorry,” the caramel haired man muttered. He laid there for a second, contemplating how to get Woohyun out of the car without hurting him more. “Can you turn on your back?” Sunggyu asked.

“I think I can.” Ignoring the pain in his broken arm and the glass that was still digging into his skin, Woohyun took a deep breath and used his good arm to maneuver himself onto his back.

Sunggyu crawled closer to Woohyun and had the brunet sit up a bit. He wrapped his arms around Woohyun’s middle and slowly dragged him out of the car, making sure to mind the jagged and sharp broken glass still attached to the window.

“Woohyun!” Dongwoo yelled, rushing up to Sunggyu so he could help drag Woohyun out. Once they were far enough from the car, Sunggyu released Woohyun. The brunet closed his eye, breathing heavily as he stayed still on the ground. His body was starting to grow numb to the pain.

“Woohyun, sit up,” Sunggyu said, helping the younger with the action. “Here’s some water.” Woohyun didn’t question where the liquid came from as he felt a bottle press against his lips. He opened his eyes and took the bottle from Sunggyu.

“Where the hell did that rocket come from?!” Hoya said. He was eyeing their surroundings.

“My question is how did they know we were even coming this way?” Dongwoo asked.

“Not many people knew about this route we were taking. Maybe Sungyeol was right about there being a double agent in the group,” Sunggyu speculated. The thought of someone betraying him and INFINITE angered him tremendously.

“But who? Everyone who knew is way too trustful,” Hoya frowned.

“No matter how long you knew and worked with someone, never trust them completely,” Dongwoo shook his head at the situation. He turned to Woohyun, who was done sipping on the water bottle. Sunggyu was kneeling beside him, keeping him upright. “I’m sorry, Woohyun. I promised that we would keep you safe, yet we almost got hit by a rocket launcher, and it looks like you got hurt more than all three of us combined.”

Dongwoo was telling the truth. Woohyun observed the resistance members. Besides the few bruises and cuts on their faces, they made it out of the crash fine. Blood was trailing down Dongwoo’s face–he probably hit head–Hoya had a busted lip, and Sunggyu had a semi-large gash on his cheek. But other than that, they were fine.

Woohyun, on the other, though, had a broken arm, a large gash on his forehead leading into his hair, and possibly a few bruised ribs. He was pretty sure he had way more injuries, though.

“It’s okay,” Woohyun gave a small yet painful smile. It hurt to move the muscles on his face. “At least we are all alive.” Dongwoo nodded in agreement.

“I need to see your arm,” Sunggyu said, lightly touching the broken limb. Woohyun fumbled with the zipper of his hoodie. It was hard using one hand. Sunggyu helped him, though. Woohyun hissed in pain as Sunggyu pulled the sleeve on the broken arm down slowly.

Lucky for Woohyun, none of the bones in his arm broke skin. There were just several bruises and cuts that  _embellished_  the limb. However, there was on large bruise on his shoulder that was already turning a nasty shade of purple.

“I don’t think your arm is broken,” Sunggyu said, grasping Woohyun’s arm gently. “It looks like you dislocated your shoulder. It would take us hours on foot to reach the headquarters and properly fix your arm, so, for now, we’re just going to need to pop it back into place and use something as a sling to keep it up.”

“What?! No!” Woohyun paled at the thought of popping it back into place.

“Dongwoo, do you have something for him to use?” He ignored the brunet.

“I should,” Dongwoo opened up his backpack that was on the ground next to him. He pulled out several jars and other small, unnecessary items. “This could be used as a sling.” He pulled out some bed sheets.

“Why do you have sheets in your bag?” Hoya asked, looking at him incredulously.

“You never know when you’ll get cold and need a blanket.” He handed the sheets to Sunggyu. “Or in this case, a sling.”

“This is going to hurt,” Sunggyu informed Woohyun, tightly grabbing onto his shoulder. The brunet flinched at the pain. “Dongwoo, Hoya, hold on to him.” Both Hoya and Dongwoo nodded, kneeling besides Woohyun and grabbing onto him. “Here,” he stuffed some of Dongwoo’s bed sheets into Woohyun’s mouth. “Bite onto this.”

“On the count of three?” Dongwoo asked, tightening his hold on the brunet.

“One,” Hoya counted.

“Two.” Woohyun closed his eyes, waiting for the pain.

“Three.” Sunggyu snapped Woohyun’s shoulder back into place harshly. Woohyun bit down onto the sheets with all his might, screaming into them. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, threatening to fall down. The pain in his shoulder was nothing like what it was before. It was even worse. It was more painful than the pounding in his head.

The resistance members released Woohyun as Sunggyu ripped the bed sheets that weren’t currently stuffed in Woohyun’s mouth in half. He grabbed Woohyun’s arm and folded it across his chest. Dongwoo grabbed the newly ripped sheets and tied it around the arm and the brunet’s shoulders.

“There. That should hold it up till we get back to the headquarters,” Dongwoo reassured, patting the brunet on the back.

Woohyun took the bed sheets out of his mouth, sniffling a bit. He wiped the tears that fell down his cheeks away. He knew there was chance he was going to get hurt if he went on this mission, but he didn’t expect to experience this much pain so early. They didn’t even reach their destination yet.

“So what now, Sunggyu?” Hoya asked, standing up. “It’s still early in the day, but it’ll take us hours on foot to get back to HQ. We’re going to have to take the underground passage, though. It would be suicide to stay outside on the streets.” The longer they stayed out in the open, the higher the chance of getting noticed.

“We have no choice.” Sunggyu stood up as well. “We’re in no condition to continue this mission,” he glanced at Woohyun. “Call Sungjong and tell him we’re on our way back–”

“No!” Woohyun exclaimed. With great difficulty, he stood up. His vision blurred a bit, and his head was spinning from all the pain. “We’re close to the underground entrance to the facility, right? Let’s just continue.”

“Not with your injuries,” Sunggyu frowned.

“I’ll be fine. You relocated my arm back into place, right? I should be fine now. I’m in perfect condition to continue this mission. Let’s not stop this because of me.”

“You call that perfect condition?” Sunggyu snorted, pointing to the arm that was in the sling.

Before Woohyun could give a snarky comeback, the car that they used and crashed with exploded. The explosion of the vehicle caused the parked car that it crashed into to explode as well. The force of the blast sent the resistance members (and Woohyun) flying backwards a few feet. They all groaned as they landed on their backs.

“I thought we were far away enough from the car if it exploded,” Dongwoo complained.

“You thought wrong,” Hoya deadpanned.

Woohyun coughed, sitting up. Could this morning get any worse?

“Tao, didn’t the boss say kill them all except for Sunggyu?” A voice mentioned. “How is shooting a grenade at the car he’s supposedly in going to keep him alive?”

“Oops?” Someone else said.

“If he’s dead, I’m not taking the blame at all,” there was a third voice.

Woohyun saw three shadows in the smoke. They were walking in their general direction. He looked to Sunggyu, Hoya, and Dongwoo next to them, but they seemed too preoccupied with struggling to sit up to notice the newcomers.

“Fine! If he’s dead, then I’ll take all the blame. Happy?!”

“Very much!”

“Let’s just get this over with, so we can go home. I’m hungry.”

Three men emerged from the shadows. The one in the center had short black hair that was swept to the side. He was the tallest out of the three. The guy to his left had short, light brown hair that was spike in the front, showing off his smooth, flawless forehead. He was the shortest of the three. The man to the right had a rainbow of colors throughout his hair.

What caught Woohyun’s attention, though, was the fact that the man in the middle had a huge grenade launcher strapped to his back. The brunet’s eyes widen. He opened his mouth to warn the others, but nothing came out. He was paralyzed with fear. It was obvious these were the men who tried to kill them.

“Well, look over there,” the shortest of the three gestured towards Woohyun and the others. “Think that’s them?”

“I dunno,” the rainbow haired fellow mused. He looked bored.

“Youngjae ordered us to kill these guys, but I don’t even know what they look like…” the grenade launcher wielder’s brows furrowed in annoyance.

“How do you not know what they look like? They faces are all over the city on wanted posters,” the shorty snickered.

“You’re the one who questioned if that’s them in the first place.”

“Let’s just ask them.”

“What if that’s not them?”

“Let’s just ask them,” he repeated.

“I don’t think that’s them, though.”

“Let’s. Just. Ask. Them.”

“S-Sunggyu…” Woohyun whispered, finally gaining the strength to talk again. He shook the caramel haired leader, who just managed to sit up. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the men as they approach them.

“What?”

“We have visitors–”

“Hello!” The man in the middle greeted. The resistance members looked up, startled by the new voices. Their eyes widen when they saw the weapon on the back of the ravenette. “This may seem awkward, but, by any chance, are you guys’ member of INFINITE? We’re looking for Kim Sunggyu, Lee Hoya, Jang Dongwoo, and this random guy whose name I’ve already forgotten.”

Sunggyu didn’t know who these people were, but he knew they were bad news. If they were asking if he and the others were part of INFINITE then most likely they were from YG.

“Uh…” Dongwoo said, glancing at Hoya and Sunggyu. His panic-filled face gave him away.

“No?” Hoya lied, though; it was more a question than a statement.

“You’re not?” the rainbow haired man frowned. They all shook their heads.

“Oh,” the grenade launcher wielder pouted. Everyone grew silent, eyeing each other, waiting for someone to talk. “I told you they weren’t the ones we were looking for.”

“Shut it, Tao,” the short man snapped.

“Did you guys see anyone that looked remotely suspicious? Like they could be a part of a rebellious group out to destroy the government and win back the city?”

Sunggyu pointed towards the crashed, fiery car behind them. “They were still in the car when it exploded,” he lied.

Woohyun couldn’t believe they actually fell for the lies. The look on his and Dongwoo’s face should’ve given them away. That and the fact that they had cuts and bruises all over that came from the car crash.

“Dammit,” Tao stomped his foot on the ground in frustration. “What am I going to say to Daehyun now? Any ideas Chen, Sehun?”

Sunggyu’s eyes widen for a second at the mention of the 'Daehyun.'

“You could tell him it was a freak accident that got Sunggyu,” Chen came up with.

“What happened to your arm?” Sehun asked, eyeing Woohyun’s injured arm.

“Uh,” he squeaked, trying to come up with an excuse. The resistance members answered for him.

“He was attacked by jellyfishes–”  
“He fell off his tricycle–”  
“He was mauled by a lion–”

Woohyun wanted to cry at the ridiculousness that came out their mouths, but he went along with it.  “Today, I fell off my tricycle into a lion’s pit. I was mauled by the ferocious beasts, but fortunately, I escaped. Unfortunately, though, during my getaway, I tumbled into a puddle filled with vicious jellyfish, which attacked me. It made it out alive, though, with the help of my friends.”

Everyone grew silent again.

“And I thought I had a pretty rough day,” Chen whispered.

“My deepest sympathies,” Tao bowed.

“The Gods were on your side today,” Sehun acknowledged.

Woohyun wasn’t sure if they were just gullible or extremely stupid.

“I guess we should leave now,” Tao suggested to his comrades. “It seems that the members of INFINITE are dead. There is nothing left for us to do here.”

Chen nodded. “Sorry for bothering you guys,” he apologized to the resistance members (and Woohyun).

“I hope your arm heals well. I heard those jellyfishes can be quite brutal,” Sehun said. They turned around, heading back from where they came from.

Woohyun released a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding.

“I can’t believe they fell for that…” Hoya snorted.

“I can’t believe we’re still alive,” Dongwoo added.

“Tao… Sehun… and Chen… I recognize those names,” Sunggyu said. “They work for Yongguk and his team. They’re part of a group of mercenaries.” They all stood up.

“What now?” Woohyun whispered. He was still watching the mercenaries walk away.

“Let’s just wait till they’re gone–”

> _“SUNGGYU!”_

A voice yelled from inside Dongwoo’s bag. The voice was loud. People from a few blocks away would have heard the yelling.

> _“SUNGGYU? Can you hear me?”_

Everyone froze as they looked at the backpack.

> _“Give me the walkie, Sungyeol!”_  

It was Sungjong’s voice.

> _“Sunggyu! Can you hear us? Are you guys okay? I was watching the news, and this reporter said there was a huge explosion by the broadcasting station!”_

Everyone lunged at the bag, trying to open it.

“Sunggyu?” Tao turned around slowly, looking at the resistance members (and Woohyun) with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Woohyun froze as the other two turned around as well.

> _“Isn’t that the area where you guys are at so you can infiltrate the BEQP?” Sungjong continued. “Is Dongwoo, Hoya, and Woohyun alright?”_

“Dammit!” Sunggyu cursed, finally getting the bag open. “Where is it?!”

> _“Everyone in INFINITE is worried about you guys. Please answer us!”_

“Found it!” Dongwoo yelled, pulling the walkie-talkie out.

> _“Sunggyu?!”_

“Turn it off! Turn it off!” Hoya panicked.

> _“Hoya?!”_

“How? This is Sungyeol’s invention! I don’t know how it works!”

> _“Dongwoo?!”_

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit–”

> _“Woohyun–”_

Sunggyu snatched the walkie out of Dongwoo’s hand, slamming it on the ground. He pulled a gun out and shot at it several times till the invention was in pieces.

Sunggyu, Hoya, and Dongwoo gave a sigh of relief as no more sound came out of the walkie-talkie.

“You guys lied to us,” Chen frowned, pulling out a machine gun.

“I bet you never were attacked by jellyfishes,” Sehun claimed, pulling out a shotgun.

“I don’t care what the orders were; I’m going to kill you all!” Tao unattached the grenade launcher from his back and aimed it at the resistance members (and Woohyun).

“Fuck,” Woohyun and the group cursed.


	11. Sehun: the Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior

"I'm going to fucking kill that Sungyeol… And Sungjong too,” Sunggyu muttered, grabbing onto Woohyun. Sunggyu pulled the brunet in one direction away from the sudden barrage of bullets coming from Chen’s machine gun. Dongwoo and Hoya ran in the opposite.

“I knew this was going to be a dangerous mission, but I honestly was not expecting this,” Woohyun complained. He was expecting some violence and some conflict but not to this degree.

Woohyun was  _not_  expecting grenade launchers to be involved in this mission.

A sudden huge explosion could be heard in the background. The sound of crumbling cement and building material resonated in the air as he and Sunggyu slipped into a nearby alleyway.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Sunggyu said, sticking his head out from the alleyway to see if they were followed. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen as well. I knew we were going to have to fight someone but not these people, not Yongguk’s men. At least it’s not Yongguk himself.”

“Is this Yongguk guy that dangerous?” Woohyun asked, leaning against the wall.

“You have no idea–” Sunggyu quickly pulled his head back into the alleyway, dodging more bullets from Chen’s gun. He turned to Woohyun and ushered him further down the narrow street. The end of the path turned into a fork.

“Which way?” Woohyun asked, slowing down for a moment.

“Uh, let’s go this way,” Sunggyu guessed. He, unfortunately, wasn’t too familiar with this part of town.

“Did they go this way?” Sehun’s voice rang throughout the alley. He and Chen must’ve of followed Woohyun and Sunggyu while Tao went after Dongwoo and Hoya.

Woohyun hoped that the two other resistance members would be able to defend themselves against the grenade launcher wielder.

“Shit!” Sunggyu cursed as the path they took came to a sudden end. The only thing that greeted them at the dead end was a large dumpster and a closed door.

“Now what?” Woohyun panicked. He could feel his heart pulsate in his throat as he heard the footsteps of Chen and Sehun approaching. Sunggyu pulled Woohyun behind the dumpster that provided enough cover for the both of them. They both crouched down to further hide themselves.

“Which way did they go?” Chen asked.

“I’m not sure. You go that way; I’ll take this right path.”

Woohyun squeezed his eyes shut as Sehun’s footsteps grew closer. He placed a hand over his mouth to keep his heavy breathing quiet.

Sunggyu reached for his Glock pistol that was tucked in the back of his pants. As quiet as he could possibly be, the resistance leader depressed the safety on the gun, readying to shoot Sehun if the man got close enough to see them.

Sehun slowly came to a halt at the end of the alley, right before the dumpster. From his view point, he couldn’t see Sunggyu and Woohyun behind the large container, but they could clearly see Sehun.

The rainbow haired man frowned, upset that he didn’t come across Sunggyu and Woohyun. He cocked his gun and shot the dumpster next to him out of spite.

The force of the bullet knocked the large trash receptacle off its hinges, moving it unsteadily from side to side. Woohyun released a  _manly_ squeal as the dumpster crashed into him, knocking him into Sunggyu, who grunted in response.

Sehun jumped back a bit as Sunggyu and Woohyun tumbled onto the ground in front of him. Woohyun let out a wail as he harshly landed on his previously dislocated arm.

“There you are,” Sehun smirked, instantly recognized the couple. “You know, Sunggyu,” he aimed his shotgun at the caramel haired man. “We were given orders to keep you alive while we kill your comrades, but because you and this tricycle-riding man,” he gestured to Woohyun, “lied to us, we’re going to kill you as well. There is no way this guy fell into a puddle filled with jellyfish. It’s impossible!”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “How do you know we weren’t lying about that?” He shakily stood up, ignoring Woohyun, who was still on the ground, rolling around in pain. The resistance leader raised his pistol at Sehun.

“It’s not jellyfish season!” Sehun stomped his foot on the ground.

“…Jellyfish have a season?” This was the first time Sunggyu heard anything like this.

“Yes. Jellyfish can only be found in random puddles by pits of lions during the springtime,” the rainbow haired man explained, lowering his shotgun.

“Really? I thought it was year round,” he lowered his pistol as well.

“No,” Sehun shook his head. “You might be thinking about the ocean sunfish that can be found in puddles all the time but not puddles near lion pits.”

“Ocean sunfish! I think you’re right. They eat jellyfish, right? But if they’re not in puddles near lion pits, then where?”

“Cheetahs.”

“You know a lot about this fish, huh?”

“Well, I fell into a puddle filled with ocean sunfishes a few years back. All nineteen years of my life have been in conflict with a variety of deadly aquatic sea creatures. Some even call me  _The Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior_. ”

“… _Fish_ Warrior?” Sunggyu tried his hardest to keep himself from laughing out loud.

“ _Rainbow Haired_  Fish Warrior,” Sehun corrected.

“Right…” Sunggyu nodded. “Did it hurt, when you fell into the puddle of ocean sunfish?”

“I felt a tremendous amount of pain.”

“Are we  _seriously_  talking about fishes and puddles?” Woohyun interrupted the conversation. It took a great load of strength and energy to get past the throbbing pain in his shoulder and stand up. He rubbed his shoulder, easing some of the pain away.

“You don’t understand, Woohyun,” Sunggyu chided. “Fishes, puddles, and animal pits are a huge pandemic here in South Hallow. A lot of people have lost their lives because of this. Just ask Sungjong; he actually fell into a puddle filled with sharks once.”

“ _S-Sharks_? How deep was this fucking puddle?! A-And why are there random pits filled with animals all over the place?!”

“Wait!” Sehun exclaimed. “Why are we talking about fishes?!” He raised his shotgun, aiming it at Sunggyu, and then pointing it to Woohyun.

“You’re the one who started the conversation!” Woohyun stated.

“Yeah, but you claimed you fell into a puddle filled with jellyfishes first!”

“Well, technically, I’m the one who came up with that–”Sunggyu confessed.

“Forget it! Let’s just get this over with now!” He cocked his gun, readying to shoot Woohyun first. Sunggyu quickly maneuvered himself in front of the brunet, raising his pistol at Sehun.

“Tell me one thing first before you  _attempt_  to kill us,” Sunggyu asked. “How did you know we were coming? Who told your boss about our plans for today?” He doubt Sehun knew exactly who told them everything, but it didn’t hurt to ask, though.

Sehun was quiet for a moment, debating on what he should tell the resistance leader. “I guess… It doesn’t hurt to tell you. It’s not like you’re going to walk out of here alive.” He lowered his weapon again, dropping his guard as well. He failed to hear the door behind him to his right open slowly.

“So?” Sunggyu briefly eyed the individual that approached the three of them before focusing back on Sehun.

“Well, we don’t know their names. Only Yongguk, Daehyun, Youngjae and the head scientist of the BEQP actually know. But what I do know is that there are–”

The sound of a metal pan smashing against Sehun’s skull reverberated in the alleyway. The impact of the attack knocked Sehun into the wall. If he wasn’t knocked unconscious from the blow to the head, crashing into the wall would’ve done it.

Woohyun gaped at the collapsing figure of Sehun: the Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior. He wasn’t sure what surprised him more, that someone was able to sneak up on the man and hit him with a  _pan_  or the fact that he is clearly still alive and breathing despite the blunt blow.

“That was a close one, eh?” A soft yet firm voice snickered. Woohyun looked past the unconscious fish warrior and saw a young woman with long, curly, dark red hair, standing before them. She had a large metal pan in her hand that had an obvious dent in the middle of it. “You were cutting it pretty close there, Sunggyu.” Her half-suppressed laugh got louder.

“I had it under control, Krystal,” Sunggyu smirked.

“From my point of view, it didn’t,” she stepped forward and kicked Sehun in the leg, making sure he was really unconscious. She then bent down and picked up his shotgun, tossing it to Sunggyu afterwards. The caramel haired man caught it with ease.

“Hurry up and come inside before the other guy comes back this way, looking for him,” another voice said. Woohyun saw a young child stick their head outside from the doorway Krystal emerged from not even a minute ago. Without a word, Sunggyu headed to the doorway with Krystal following.

“Wait,” Woohyun called out, hesitant about going inside. “What about Dongwoo and Hoya? We can’t leave them!” He was extremely worried for the two of them since it was apparent that Tao and his enormous grenade launcher went after them.

“Don’t worry about them,” Sunggyu assured. “They can handle themselves.”

Woohyun would’ve protested more, but it was obvious they weren’t going to wait on him, for the door leading inside the building was already closing. The brunet rushed inside before it completely closed.

Woohyun found himself at the bottom of a small stairwell that seemed to go on and on above. He was already dreading climbing the stairs. He had pretty low stamina for things such as this. He still questioned how he made it onto his school’s soccer team back in high school.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you in this part of town, Sunggyu, especially down in that alleyway,” Krystal’s voice echoed in the poorly-lit stairwell.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen,” Sunggyu responded. “How did you know we were down there?”

“With all that commotion going on, how could we not? It’s not every day buildings around you start exploding and collapsing unless INFINITE are involved. Plus, I was planning on taking out the trash when I saw you three back there.”

Before Woohyun could begin complaining about how many flights of stairs they’ve climbed, they came to a stop at the second floor. Krystal opened a door, leading to a hallway filled with many other doors. These doors, Woohyun assumed, led to someone’s apartment.

Woohyun saw a young girl standing in front of one of the many doors. It looked like she was waiting for them. Woohyun realized that this kid was the same one from earlier, who told them to quickly come inside before Chen came. The young girl opened the door, leaving it ajar for the rest of them to walk in.

The brunet was quite surprise to find that the apartment was huge and roomy. Much bigger than what Woohyun was definitely expecting. From the way the building looked from the outside, the poorly-lit stairwell, and the bland-looking hallway, he thought the inside of the apartment would look the same.

The place was very homey. The walls were all painted a nice shade of light blue with various paintings and picture frames adorning the walls. It gave off a very relaxed and homey feeling. It reminded Woohyun of his mother’s house before he moved out when he turned twenty.

“Sulli,” Krystal said, gaining the young girl’s attention. “Make some tea for Sunggyu and his friend.” The young girl–Sulli–nodded, quickly scurrying away.

“We can’t stay for long, Krystal,” Sunggyu said, leaning against the wall by the door. Woohyun walked further into the living room to the window across from the front door. When he peeked outside and looked down below, he saw Sehun still on the ground unconscious.

“I know, but stay, at least for moment, to catch your breaths and such. You two looked like you just walked away from a terrible car crash,” Krystal eyed Woohyun’s arm that was in sling with a frown.

“We did,” Sunggyu deadpanned.

“Sulli,” Krystal called out immediately. “Tell Luna or Victoria to bring me the first aid kit from the bathroom!”

“Krystal,” Sunggyu sighed. "We don't have time for you to clean any wounds we have..."

Ignoring Sunggyu, the red head turned to Woohyun, sticking her hand out. “Where are my manners? I’m Krystal Jung, an old friend of Sunggyu’s.”

“Hello, I’m Woohyun,” he shook her hand.

“Are you new to INFINITE? I’ve never seen you around before.”

“You can say that.” Woohyun didn’t feel like going into the whole explanation as to why he is with Sunggyu and INFINITE.

Krystal nodded, understanding what Woohyun meant.

The brunet highly doubted she knew what he meant.

“Luna, Victoria, where is the first aid?” Krystal yelled, standing up. She walked into the room Sulli walked into earlier, leaving Woohyun alone with the resistance leader.

Woohyun glanced outside again to check up on the rainbow haired fish warrior. Fortunately, he was still unconscious.

“Krystal is an old childhood friend of mine,” Sunggyu suddenly informed, gaining Woohyun’s attention. “She is part of INFINITE.”

“She is?” Woohyun asked, finding it hard to believe that the red head, despite hitting hard with a cooking pan, was part of the rebel group.

Sunggyu nodded. “Well, kind of. A few years back, she got injured severely on a mission, and she lost someone dear to her. So, to not lose anyone else she cares for, she decided to leave INFINITE when it came to doing missions and the like. She still keeps in contact with us, but she lives here now, and as a way of still being a part of INFINITE, she watches over all of these children.” He pointed to the various picture frames that surrounded the living room. Each picture had a group of kids in it.

“Wow,” Woohyun was amazed as he looked at the pictures. Woohyun had a low tolerance for children. He could barely babysit a kid before he was ready to throw them out of the window for aggravating him. But here was Krystal in each of the photos with a group of ten plus kids beside here, posing for the camera.

“Most of these kids are younger siblings or the children of the people in INFINITE. She watches over them since their relatives can't. This entire floor of the apartment building is filled with the kids she watches.” Sunggyu was a bit confused as to why he was telling the brunet all of this. It’s not like it was any of his business.

“I tell you,” Krystal mumbled, walking back into the living room, carrying a small white box that had a red cross on it. Woohyun gave a small smile, happy that the symbol for first aid and medical supplies and such was still the same in this time period. “These kids never listen to me these days. Just wait till their old enough to leave this place; they’ll be coming back to me crying after they see the horror of the outside world.”

Woohyun glanced outside again. Sehun was still on the ground unconscious. From his viewpoint, he couldn’t see the path Chen took earlier.

“Let’s clean some of the cuts on your face first,” Krystal said, pulling Woohyun away from the window. She sat him down on the couch, and then she sat down next to him, opening the box.

“Make this quick, Krystal. The longer we stay in here, the more dangerous it’ll be for you and the kids,” Sunggyu warned. A huge explosion from outside could be heard, further proving Sunggyu’s point.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Krystal muttered, wiping some of the cuts on Woohyun’s face with disinfectant

The ground trembled as another explosion happened outside. “Dongwoo and Hoya must be giving Tao hell out there.”

“Always leave it to those two to cause trouble for the enemy.” Krystal smacked a few Band-Aids on Woohyun’s face. “Who’s chasing you guys this time?”

“Yongguk’s little mercenary team.” Woohyun could  _feel_  the hatred in Sunggyu’s response at just the mention of Yongguk. “Tao, Sehun, and Chen.”

“Them? I heard they’re bad news, Sunggyu. Be careful when you go back out there.” Krystal moved away from Woohyun, deeming him perfectly fine now. Woohyun was pretty sure that he could’ve done a better and more thorough job than her when it came to first aid. She didn’t even look at his shoulder and arm.

“They don’t seem too strong.”

“That’s probably because it’s just three of them right now. Last time I checked, there are six altogether,” she beckoned for Sunggyu to come over to the couch so she could clean some of his wounds as well. Woohyun stood up and let Sunggyu take his spot.

“There are six of them? Are you kidding me?”

“I think the other names are Kai, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun.” Woohyun looked outside again. Sehun was still on the ground.

“Ugh, we are really in no condition to handle all six of them today.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m cleaning these wounds right now!”

“Seriously, Krystal? Sungjong does a better job than you when it comes to this.”

“Shut up.”

“Here’s the tea,” Sulli said, coming out of the kitchen. She had a tray with two cups of tea. She handed on glass to Sunggyu and the other to Woohyun.

The brunet’s brow’s furrowed as he looked inside the cup. He was pretty sure the black gook that was bubbling inside was not tea. Last time he checked, there shouldn’t be something slithering around inside.

“Was that a worm?” Woohyun frowned. He eyed Sulli, wondering if she was some sort of assassin attempting to murder him with this cup of ‘tea.’

Woohyun placed the cup on the side table next to the couch and looked outside again. There was a lot of smoke in the sky, probably coming from all the buildings Tao destroyed with his grenade launcher. He hoped that Dongwoo and Hoya was still alive and doing alright. Even though he was in no condition to help or even defend himself properly, he wished to leave the safe confines of Krystal’s apartment and help the resistance members.

The brunet almost fell out of the window when he looked down and did not see Sehun: the Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior still on the ground unconscious. He quickly turned around to inform Sunggyu when the ground shook again from another explosion outside. At this current rate, Woohyun was pretty sure half the city would be destroyed from Tao’s weapon.

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun alerted. “Sehun’s gone!”

Before Sunggyu could react properly, the front door slammed opened, revealing a disheveled and bleeding from the head Fish Warrior.

“You think you could get away from me?” Sehun smirked, slowly walking into the apartment. “A metal pan is not going to kill me!” He somehow came across another shotgun before coming up here.

“Sulli,” Krystal whispered, pushing the girl towards the kitchen. “Go find Victoria and Luna and hide in your room.” Sulli scampered off without being told twice.

“How did you know what floor and room we were in?” Woohyun asked. He reached for the gun that Sunggyu gave him to protect himself with in his pocket only to find it empty. He had no gun on him. It had disappeared. Had he lost it in the crash?

“Dammit, Hoya,” Woohyun cursed, remembering that after accidentally almost shooting Hoya earlier, the resistance member didn’t give the brunet the gun back in fear of almost getting shot at again.

“So who wants to die first?” Sehun asked, walking further into the apartment. He eyed the resistance members (and Woohyun) with a murderous glint. “Does the INFINITE leader want to die first? Or perhaps the lying tricycle-riding man? Hm, maybe the cooking pan lady wants to go first?”

“How about you?” Sunggyu said. He quickly pulled out his pistol and pulled the trigger, shooting Sehun in the chest. The force of the shot knocked the rainbow haired mercenary off his feet and back into the hallway where he just previously came from. Blood splattered the walls and the ground as Sehun lay upon the ground choking on his own blood.

Woohyun gaped at the scene, not expecting it to end like that so quickly. He was expecting some sort of big fight in the apartment, possibly destroying all the nice furniture. He was expecting to get punched around a few times by Sehun and possibly Sunggyu getting hit by a bullet. He was even expecting Krystal getting hurt when trying to protect one of them.

But no, he wasn’t expecting Sunggyu to walk up to the dying man and pulled the trigger on him and few more times, making sure the man was dead. And he sure wasn’t expecting Krystal to walk up next to Sunggyu, grabbed the shotgun that she took from Sehun earlier and shoot the man in the head just to be sure as well.

Woohyun had to remind himself, though, that he is in a different time period. A time period where he should expect the unexpected. He’s in a period where a mercenary by the name of Sehun: the Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior gets shot suddenly and unexpectedly after making a big entrance into a small, yet homey apartment  and threatens everyone.

The brunet sighed, sitting down on the couch. Oh, how he wished he was back in his own time and world, worrying about what he was going to have for dinner that evening and what was going to happen on the reruns of  _Pokémon_.


	12. Chen: the Easily Deceived

"Thanks again, Krystal. See you soon,” Sunggyu waved, looking up at Krystal, who was looking down into the alleyway at Sunggyu and Woohyun. The brunet waved to the red head, nodding his thanks as well. “Okay,” Sunggyu looked to Woohyun. “Let’s quickly find Hoya and Dongwoo while avoiding Chen and, hopefully, Tao. And then we’ll head back to HQ–”

“Head back?” Woohyun frowned. “We’ve come too far to go back now!”

“We’re in no condition to continue this mission,” Sunggyu claimed and began walking down the small, narrow alleyway. Woohyun followed. “Our car and all the equipment that I packed in there this morning specifically for this mission had been destroyed. It’s going to take us even longer to get there on foot now–”

“Okay, okay,” Woohyun sighed. “But… from what I’ve gathered, this mission is really important. The information you could possibly gather from the scientist at the BEQP could be used to your advantage against this corrupted government. Isn’t it your goal to do whatever you can to stop YG? Why give up now?”

Sunggyu grew silent as he listened to what Woohyun was saying. He understood what the younger was saying, and he truly did want to continue this mission, but something was holding him back. Something told him that if they continued this mission, something bad might happen. Something  _horrendously_  bad might happen. If it was just himself infiltrating the BEQP, then maybe he wouldn’t care and still continue the mission, but he had three other people with him that he needed to protect. Sure, Hoya and Dongwoo are capable of taking care of themselves, but definitely not Woohyun.

Sunggyu still did not completely believe that the brunet was from the past, but it was quite obvious that he wasn’t from around here. The way he reacted to normal things–the cop that approached him and Leeteuk, the poking, how Sunggyu and the rest of INFINITE handle things, the animal pits and fish puddles–gave it away. He and Dongwoo promised the younger that they would protect him, but there is no way they could really keep that promise. They haven’t even reached the entrance to the underground transit passageways, and Woohyun already looked like he crawled out of a terrible car crash–.

Oh, wait, he practically did.

“Sunggyu?” Woohyun called, waving his good hand in front of the caramel haired man. “Are you okay?” Sunggyu shook his head, losing his train of thought. “If the reason why you want to stop this mission is because of me, then you can forget about it. Sure, my shoulder is dislocated, and it hurts like a bitch, but it’s nothing compared to the pain that was afflicted upon me during soccer games at school.” Woohyun smiled, putting on a brave face. He was lying, though. His shoulder hurt much more than he let on, but he wasn’t going to tell Sunggyu that.

“Soccer?” Sunggyu gave Woohyun a cute yet confused expression, tilting his head slightly. His brow’s furrowed as he tried to understand what the brunet was talking about. “What is this  _soccer_?”

“Are you kidding me?” Woohyun instantly wanted to punch a hole through Sunggyu’s face. “Forget it,” he turned from Sunggyu and continued walking down the alleyway. “Listen, Sunggyu,” Woohyun started again. “I’m fine. Fine enough to continue this mission with you. Knowing that this mission could help and save a lot of people is enough for me to keep going. My conscience wouldn’t allow for me to sit comfortably back at your secret hideout while people here on the surface suffered.”

“Our  _headquarters_  isn’t a  _secret hideout_.” Sunggyu took offense to that.

“Does the government know where your  _headquarters_  are located?”

“No.”

“Then it’s considered a secret hideout.”

Sunggyu huffed and sped up in front of Woohyun, ignoring his insults. He was too exhausted from today’s events to put a bullet through the boy’s skull. As he walked further from Woohyun, he noticed they grew closer to the main road where they originally were before the separated from Dongwoo and Hoya.

He came to a stop at the entrance to the alleyway. He examined the area in front of him for any sign of his comrades and enemies. He didn’t see anyone. It was quite quiet. Even Tao’s grenades ceased fire. He hoped that meant that the mercenary ran out of grenades.

“Before we came down this way,” Woohyun elucidated as he finally caught up to Sunggyu. “I think Dongwoo and Hoya headed down that way.” He pointed to Sunggyu’s left. “A lot of the explosions and smoke seemed to come from that direction too.” Sunggyu nodded and headed in that general direction. Woohyun was right behind him.

“Excuse me!” Someone yelled, gaining the boy’s attention. They turned around and came face-to-face with Chen, Sehun: the Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior’s comrade.

Sunggyu quickly pulled out a .45 Winchester Magnum from randomly out of nowhere and aimed it at Chen. Woohyun slowly backed away from the scene, not wanting to get caught up in whatever conflict that might develop.

“Woah! Calm down!” Chen placed his hands in front of him, showing he meant no harm. “Don’t worry. I’m not here to kill you guys… right now.”

“Oh really?” Sunggyu kept his guard and gun up, giving the man a skeptical look.

“Look, I just wanted to know if you’ve seen Sehun. We split up earlier, and we were supposed to meet up again at the fork down that alleyway,” he pointed to the narrow street Woohyun and Sunggyu just emerged from. “But he never came back.” He seemed extremely worried.

“The Rainbow Haired Fish Warrior? Yeah, we just killed–”

“We just  _killed_  some time chilling with him! Right, Sunggyu?” Woohyun smiled, slapping Sunggyu upside his head. The resistance leader shot the brunet a deadly glare. He received a twitching smile in return.

“Uh, yeah,” Sunggyu deadpanned. If Chen was actually smart, he would have realized they were both lying.

Again.

But he’s not.

“Really? Exactly what did you guys do?” Woohyun found it odd that the mercenary found joy in the fact that they hung out with Sehun.

“Yeah, we had the time of our lives,” Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun. The brunet’s brows furrowed, not understanding the dirty look the older man gave him. “We had a nice, long, and intriguing conversation.”

“Huh?” Woohyun was confused about what Sunggyu was saying.

The caramel haired man quickly leaned in closed to Woohyun and whispered in his ear, “Just play along, okay?” Woohyun nodded.

“About what?” Chen seemed really interested now.

“Just about life and how great it is to be  _alive_. He also talked about you,” Sunggyu continued to lie.

“What did he say?” Chen’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. Woohyun couldn’t believe how gullible the man was.

“He said–Oh, I mustn’t say!” Sunggyu dramatically place a hand over his heart.

“No! You must say!”

“The terrible things that came out of his mouth. My companion here…” he wrapped an arm around Woohyun’s shoulder. The younger man bit his tongue to stop himself from whimpering in pain as the caramel haired man squeezed his injured shoulder. He understood what Sunggyu was trying to do, though. “He is too innocent for me to repeat such horrendous words.”

“Horrendous?” Chen frowned, trying to think of all the possible rude things Sehun must’ve said about him.

“Oh yes, very horrendous,” Sunggyu nodded. “He even mentioned how he and Tao would always hang out and drank coffee while talking about you and how bad of a mercenary you are.”

“I can’t believe this!” Chen stomped his foot in anger. “After all the things I’ve done for them. After all the times I stayed up late singing and reading them bedtime stories!”

“Bed… time stories?” Woohyun was not expecting that.

“Sehun said that Tao said your singing sucked!” Sunggyu continued to instigate.

“My singing does not suck!” Chen yelled. His shoulders shook as he willed himself to not cry in front of Sunggyu and Woohyun. He looked down, glaring at the random pebble near his feet.

“He also said that–”

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun whispered, trying to get Sunggyu to stop. He felt kind of bad for the mercenary.

“That’s it!” Chen proclaimed, suddenly looking back up. His eyes sparkled with tears but none spilled. “I will not stand here and be verbally battered. Those two will pay for their words. Tell me where they are this instant!” Chen harshly pushed Woohyun out of the way and grabbed Sunggyu by the collar of his shirt. He tried lifting the resistance leader off the ground, but he didn’t have enough upper body strength.

They both ignored the moan of pain that came from Woohyun, who fell to the ground from the shove.

“Well, Sehun… is no longer around–”

“What?”

“How about we find Tao first! He is the one who made fun of your singing abilities.”

“You are right! We shall find Tao and end his life!” Sunggyu could’ve sworn he saw fire and determination shone in his eyes.

“End his life?” Woohyun questioned, standing back up. “Do you really need to kill him? Can’t you just talk it out? Maybe you were off key whenever you sung to them?” Sunggyu rolled his eyes at the brunet. It seemed that the time traveling young man forgot that this way all a lie and that Sehun said no such thing.

“Talk it out?” Chen gave Woohyun a confused look, releasing Sunggyu as well. “There is no  _talking it out_. He insulted me, and I shall kill him for that. It’s as simple as that.” He turned back to Sunggyu. “Tell me where he is! Tell me where that snot-nosed, horse blowing, panda-wannabe, wide-spread vagina is!”

“A what?!” Woohyun snorted at the insult.

“We’re not exactly sure ourselves, but I think he went down that way.” Sunggyu pointed down the street behind him.

The road behind was completely destroyed. Debris littered the streets. Fires broke out everywhere. Smoke filled the air. They could see people in the distance running from the collapsing buildings. It was utter chaos. Woohyun prayed that Hoya and Dongwoo were okay. If he and Sunggyu didn’t quickly find them and get out of the area, he knew they were going to have to deal with more than just these credulous mercenaries.

“Alright then, let’s go,” Chen ordered, walking in the direction of all the mayhem Tao caused. Woohyun and Sunggyu looked at each other and nodded, both mentally agreeing with one another. As long as they stuck with the mercenary and kept up the fabricated lie, they would find Tao, Dongwoo, and Hoya and hopefully save their comrades if it wasn’t too late.

The trio didn’t search long when a car not too far from them suddenly exploded, and a couple of resistance members by the names of Dongwoo and Hoya came running out of the smoke that emitted from the car. They were both covered in scratches and bruises. They were both covered in dust and soot. And they both completely ignored Sunggyu, Woohyun, and Chen as they ran past them.

Woohyun didn’t have time to wonder why they didn’t stop when he saw a very angry, bloody, and psychotic looking Tao running from out of the smoke as well and heading in their direction. His gigantic grenade launcher was perched on his shoulder, fully loaded and ready to shoot out another rocket.

“Holy shit!” Woohyun screamed, turning around and attempting to run away. He didn’t get very far, for a hand, Sunggyu’s hand, grabbed onto his injured shoulder, forcing the brunet to fall to his knees and whimper from the pain. With the amount of times his injured shoulder had been grabbed, shoved, or crashed into today, Woohyun was surprised he hadn’t gone into shock yet.

“Tao!” Chen yelled, stomping up to the leader of the mercenaries. Tao came to a halt as he eyed Chen, Sunggyu, and Woohyun curiously. “We need to talk. Pronto!”

“Seriously, Chen? Right now?”

“Yes, right now.”

Tao glared at Sunggyu, “What is this?” He pointed to Sunggyu. “Are you hanging out with the enemy now?”

“Oh don’t act like you don't know, Tao!”

“What?”

“I know what you and Sehun had been saying behind my back!”

“What we’ve been saying…? Exactly  _what_  have we been saying, Chen?

“That… That…” He squeezed his eyes shut as a small sob erupted from him. He used the sleeve of his jacket to cover his eyes as they watered.

“Look, Chen,” Tao rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for your emotional breakdown. We have a job to do. A job that deals with these two,” he gestured to Sunggyu and Woohyun–who found the strength to stand up. They were both watching the conversation with intense curiosity.

“Sehun said that you said that my phenomenal singing skills are rubbish!” He screamed, lowering his arm. Tears were streaming down his face. He really took the lie Sunggyu gave him to heart.

Tao raised an eyebrow at the accusation. “Sehun said this? Where is he now?”

“He…” Chen looked to Sunggyu.

“He…” Sunggyu looked to Woohyun. He couldn’t remember what he told the man earlier.

“He went to the bathroom?” Woohyun guessed. It was more of a question than any.

“He went to the bathroom!” Chen repeated.

“He went to the  _bathroom_ , huh? Did Sehun tell you this himself?” He glared at Sunggyu and Woohyun, already knowing that they were the ones feeding Chen these lies.

“That doesn’t matter!” Chen denounced. “I am hurt, and I am here to kill you.”

“Woah! What–?”

Chen suddenly pulled his machine gun from out of nowhere and aimed it at his boss. “This is for all the shit you put me through these past years! Because you, sir, are an uppity douche nozzle, and I hope you rot in hell!”

Woohyun flinched when Chen pulled the trigger. He quickly shut his eyes tight, not wanting to see someone else die again. Everything grew silent as the brunet waited for the sound of Tao’s body to collapse onto the ground. But he heard nothing.

He opened his eyes to see Sunggyu frowning at the situation, to see Chen gaping at his weapon, to see Tao still standing, smirking at Chen. Woohyun gulped, realizing that the easily deceived mercenary’s weapon was empty of bullets.

Tao lowered the grenade launcher that was still on his shoulder down and onto the ground. He took a deep breath, crossing his arms as he gave Chen a malicious smile. “I would kill you, but then the title of "most monstrously hideous fire crotch alive" would pass on to someone else. And we can’t have that now, can we? And plus, your singing really does suck!”

“Well, you know what? You piss drinker, I predict that a hideous, fucking congressman will fuck you to death with a compound bow,” Chen glared, throwing his gun to the ground.

“You're the most slimy, crab infested, gaping anus diver I know.”

“If you stopped being an aborted douche for one fucking day, somebody might want to spend time with you.”

“I hope your brother kills you with a 9mm!”

“I don’t have a brother!”

“Well… Fuck you!”

“No, fuck you!”

Chen and Tao both grew quiet as they glared menacingly at one another. The air felt thick with tension. So thick that Woohyun thought he could cut it with a knife. He was expecting both of them to suddenly pull out a gun and blast each other’s brains.

That didn’t happen, though.

“I’m sorry, Chen,” Tao apologized, rushing up to the man and pulling him into a hug. “I always thought your singing voice was nice.”

“I’m sorry too, Tao!” He returned the gesture. “I didn’t mean it when I said no one wanted to spend time with you; I’m sure there is someone out there that’ll want to.”

“You think so?”

“I hope so!”

Tao was quiet for a moment. “...Chen…”

“Yeah?” He felt Tao shuffle a bit.

“I’m not really sorry, but this needs to be done.”

“Huh–?” Chen pulled away from Tao as he felt an intense sudden pain in his stomach. He backed away from Tao and his hug. He looked down and eyed the knife that was lodged in him. His brain couldn’t completely comprehend the fact that Tao had just stabbed him.

“T-Tao…” He gurgled, blood seeped from his lips. “But… w-why?” He collapsed to the ground. Blood stained his jacket. Blood pooled around him. His eyes flickered between Tao, Sunggyu, and Woohyun before settling on Tao. He tried to take a breath, but his mouth was filled with blood.

Woohyun felt helpless as he watched the mercenary cough up blood. He felt like crying as Chen made one last attempt at breathing before all movement ceased. His eyes never closing.

“You…” Woohyun gasped, feeling sick to his stomach. “You killed him. You actually  _killed_  him.”

Tao walked up to the dead Chen and pulled the knife out of him. More blood oozed from the wound as he pulled. Woohyun could hear the dead mercenary’s skin rip and tear as the knife was pulled out completely. “I sure did. Would you like to be next?” He smirked at Woohyun.  The brunet felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up from the look.

Sunggyu’s eyes widen at the scene. He was appalled at what just occurred. Sunggyu considered himself a violent person, but he would never go to the lengths of killing his own comrades the way Tao just did. Heck, Sunggyu couldn’t find it in him to kill any of his comrades in general.

Unless it was Sungyeol.

“I’m pretty sure Sehun is dead,” Tao guessed correctly. “I was going to kill him after this anyway, so thank you for doing it for me.” He used the bottom of his shirt to clean the blood off of his knife.

“Why?” Woohyun exclaimed. “Why would you do that? Why would you kill him, your partner?!”

“It had to be done,” Tao simply said.

“That is ridiculous,” Sunggyu frowned. “He was your comrade, your partner, a fellow mercenary! You killed him because it needed to be done?! That’s bullshit. You should never take someone’s life because you  _want_  to! No one has the right to take someone’s life!”

“You have no right to talk, Kim Sunggyu!” Tao shouted. “You killed Sehun! You and your rebel group killed all of those innocent people back at the Joint South Hallow and Crystal Keep Inaugural Ball last month! Are you aware of how many people died that evening? Many woman, children, and the elderly lost their lives because of you and your faction.”

“That was different! We had no choice!” Sunggyu defended. “It was for the greater good.”

“What about all the people you killed back in the military? Was that for the  _greater good_  as well?”

Sunggyu grew stiff at the comment. Not many people knew about his life back in the army.

“You try to sound all high and mighty and that no one has the right to kill, and yet you killed more people than my entire crew combine. And trust me, we’ve killed many.”

“How do you know all this?” Sunggyu growled.

“I did my homework.”

Woohyun didn’t completely understand what they were talking about, but he knew just from the look on Sunggyu’s face that his past and the military is a touchy subject. He wanted to question Sunggyu about it later on, but he knew it wasn’t his place to ask.

Deciding that they’ve talked for long enough, Tao picked up his rocket launcher, perching it back up onto his shoulder. He pressed a few buttons on it, preparing to shoot it at Sunggyu and Woohyun. “Regardless of what you believe is wrong or right when it comes to killing, Sunggyu, one of us is going to die today. Which one of us is it going to be?”

Sunggyu pulled his pistol out, readying it. He aimed it at Tao. “It’s not going to be me. I refuse to die. There’s so much more I have to do before I finally clock out.”

“Same here,” Tao agreed.


	13. It's Not Over Yet

"So...?" Hoya drawled out, looking over at his partner. Both he and Dongwoo were hiding behind a parked car not too far from Sunggyu, Woohyun, and Tao.

Oh, and Chen, who was on the ground dead, as well.

“So  _what_?” Dongwoo gave Hoya a confused look.

“Shouldn’t we help them?” He tilted his head towards their comrades. “That guy just killed his own  _partner_.”

“I think Sunggyu and Woohyun can handle Tao,” Dongwoo smiled. He had confidence in his leader and new friend.

“Okay, maybe Sunggyu could stand a chance, but I highly doubt Woohyun would last even a second against that man! I mean, look at the guy,” he pointed to Woohyun. “It looks like he’s about to have a mental breakdown.”

Dongwoo had to agree with Hoya. Woohyun looked like he was on verge of tears. The shock of everything that has happened to him so far today had probably begun to sink in.

“Can you blame him, though?” Dongwoo glanced back at his friend. “The guy is from a different time, a time where there is no war, where people aren’t murdered left and right. He comes from a peaceful time. He’s not used to seeing so much chaos and destruction.”

“You honestly believe he’s from the past?”

“I do,” Dongwoo answered simply. “Don’t you?”

“Honestly, I don’t what to believe these days. Anything’s possible, I guess.”

They both grew quiet as they watched Sunggyu and Tao ready their weapons. They watched as Woohyun slowly backed away from the scene, not wanting to get caught up in the crossfire.

“So,” Dongwoo spoke, tearing his eyes away from the scene and looking back at Hoya. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to help them, right?”

“I guess,” Hoya looked back at Dongwoo.

“You can go first, though.”

“Because I’m such a kind gentleman, I’ll let you go first.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m sure you’re dying to be one of the first to throw a punch.”

“That may be so, but you’re my elder, and elders should go first,” Hoya smiled, his eye twitching a bit.

“How about we go help at the same time?”

“Fine. On the count of three then.”

“One,” Dongwoo started.

“Two,” Hoya continued.

“Three!” They both yelled.

Neither of them actually made a move, though.

“Maybe we should let–”

“–Sunggyu handle this?”

They both nodded at each other and turned their attention back to the others, neither making an effort to help.

* * *

 

“I wonder who will come out on top,” Tao mused, pressing a few buttons on his weapon that was perched up on his shoulder. The grenade launcher rumbled as it began to come to life. A bright light collected around the muzzle of the launcher.

“It won’t be you, that’s for sure,” Sunggyu responded. The resistance leader looked to Woohyun and quickly jutted his head to the side.

Woohyun nodded. Sunggyu wanted him out of harm’s way. Even though the fight was between the two of them, if Tao got his hands on Woohyun, he would probably use him against Sunggyu. The brunet ran down the street and hid behind a lamppost–which, in all reality, did not do a good job in hiding him.

Sunggyu looked back at Tao, trying to determine his next moves. He needed to end this as soon as possible. He couldn’t afford to lose to the mercenary. So much was at stake. Not just this mission, which he was willing to abort, or his life and the lives of his comrades (and no, Woohyun did not fall under that category. Sunggyu saw him as more of a dumbass who claims he came from the past), but if he lost to Tao today, it would be the end of INFINITE and the end of whatever chance South Hallow had at a better future.

Sunggyu had to win.

The caramel haired cocked the barrel of his pistol. He kept his finger on the trigger, waiting for Tao to make the first move.

“We’ll see about that, Sunggyu!” Tao snapped.

Using the hand that was not holding the grenade launcher, the mercenary swiftly reached for the holster around his waist and pulled out a short barrel pistol. He aimed at Sunggyu and pulled the trigger.

Sunggyu quickly dived to the ground and rolled, evading the bullets as they whizzed through the air in his direction. He got back to his feet and ran towards Tao, gripping his pistol and fired a rapid-fire blast of bullets at the mercenary.

Tao darted away, ducking behind one of the various building debris that littered the streets, avoiding the constant stream of bullets. He checked his grenade launcher to see its process of recharging. After chasing and shooting at Dongwoo and Hoya earlier, he had, unfortunately, ran out of rockets by the time he was approached by Chen. Luckily, for him, his grenade launcher produced grenades/rockets on its own (using the materials that were stored within the weapon itself) during set intervals. Tao would just have to hold Sunggyu off for a few more minutes before he could blow him to pieces.

As Tao ducked behind a crumbling wall within a destroyed building, everything suddenly grew quiet. He didn’t hear Sunggyu running after him. He didn’t hear gunshots anymore. Everything was quiet. Tao figured that Sunggyu hid behind some debris, waiting for Tao to come back out so that he could get him. The mercenary smirked, thinking that Sunggyu was a fool. He wouldn’t fall for such a cheap trick like that. He would wait for the resistance leader to come to him.

He checked his rocket launcher to see how much longer he would have to wait to use it. It read ten minutes. He lowered it to ground. Tao gripped his pistol that was in his other hand and waited to hear any noise indicating that Sunggyu was approaching him.

Tao waited and waited. But no one came. He heard nothing. He didn’t dare look behind, though. But he did grow impatient quickly. He waited for a few more minutes before giving up on his initial plan and come out from his hiding spot.

The mercenary took a deep breath and calmed himself. He placed his finger against the trigger of his pistol and quietly walked to the edge of the wall. He took one more deep breath and quickly stuck his head out from behind the wall with gun aimed in front of him. His brows furrowed when he was met with an empty and desolate street.

Well, it wasn’t completely empty. He saw Woohyun still  _hiding_  behind the streetlight in the distance.

“Where did he go?” Tao mumbled aloud. He lowered his gun, confused. He was sure the man was right behind him before he hid behind the wall. How did he disappear so quickly? Tao ducked behind the wall again, contemplating his next move. Should he go out there and find Sunggyu himself and get this over with or wait it out–.

The sound of a rock hitting the ground grabbed Tao’s attention. Thinking it was Sunggyu finally making his move, the mercenary jumped out from behind the wall completely and shot a few rounds blindly.

When he ran out of bullets, he lowered his guard and threw it to the ground. It was useless to him now since he ran out of bullets. His eyes widen when he realize that no one was in front of him. He didn’t hit anything. Sunggyu was nowhere in sight. He had just wasted his bullets for nothing. He eyed his surroundings carefully, looking for anything that stood out.

Sunggyu must’ve purposely gained his attention to reveal himself. “Fuck,” Tao muttered under his breath and turned around to go back to his hiding spot but instead came face-to-face with Sunggyu himself.

“Hello!” Sunggyu smirked.

“Wha–” Tao didn’t get a chance to finish vocalizing his thoughts, for Sunggyu smashed the butt of his pistol against Tao face. The mercenary yelped in pain, staggering backwards. He felt blood gushed out of his now-broken nose.

Sunggyu grabbed the stumbling man by the collar of his shirt, pulling him back towards him. He then landed an uppercut, launching Tao into the air. He landed on the ground a few feet away from Sunggyu, but he quickly got back up to his feet. He lunged towards Sunggyu with a manic scream. He threw a punch at Sunggyu, who easily blocked it but had a harder time against the rising elbow strike that came immediately afterwards.

Woohyun cringed as he watched Tao deliver a kick to Sunggyu, knocking the caramel haired man down. He thought Sunggyu was going to come out on top during this fight as he watched Sunggyu sneak up on the mercenary the way he did. But it was quite obvious Tao could hold his own. He was beating the crap out of Sunggyu as much as Sunggyu was to him.

The brunet covered his eyes in fear and horror as Sunggyu jumped in the air and did a fast diving kick, stunning Tao for a moment. Woohyun could have sworn he heard a few bones crack from that move. To Woohyun, the way these two fought was similar to fights in movies. They kept throwing more and more punches and kicks, but neither backed down, neither gave up, neither stopped fighting.

Despite Tao killing his own partner and trying to kill them, Woohyun did not want Sunggyu to kill him. And he didn’t want Tao to kill Sunggyu. He didn’t want anyone else die today. He wasn’t sure he could handle it. Until he came here, Woohyun never encountered so much violence and death before. But what could he do? What could Woohyun do to convince Sunggyu and Tao to stop fighting?

Woohyun cringed again when Sunggyu landed a punch to Tao’s gut.

“You know, you’re not so bad,” Tao commented, wiping away so of the blood that was still trickling from his nose. He backed–more like wobbled–away slightly from Sunggyu, needing to catch his breath a bit.

“I  _could_  say the same about you,” Sunggyu spat out a wad of blood.

Tao rolled his eyes at the remark. Tao took a deep breath, readying to throw more moves at the resistance leader. He was quite exhausted from the fighting, and he was pretty sure he had a few bruised ribs from that last punch Sunggyu gave him. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He was nowhere  _near_ ready.

Tao tilted his head, cracking the bones in this neck. He needed to end this fight now before it went on any longer. If he wanted to win, he was going to need to make it back to his grenade launcher. It had to be fully charged by now.

“You look like you’re about to keel over,” Sunggyu teased.

“As if,” Tao sneered. He glanced over Sunggyu’s shoulder where the wall he was hiding behind was. If he could just get over there to his weapon.

“Listen, let’s just end this. Let’s stop this right now.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to kill you.” Sunggyu really didn’t want to.

“The only way this is going to end is when I blow your head off!”

“That isn’t going to happen!”

“Oh yeah? Well…” Tao glanced past Sunggyu again. “Hey, look! It’s… a kitty!” He pointed behind the resistance leader.

“What? Where?” Sunggyu quickly turned around, looking for said animal.

Tao rushed to Sunggyu, performing a three spin-kick, ending with a helicopter kick. Sunggyu, not seeing this coming, was knocked to the ground from the kicks. His head slammed against the concrete ground, blurring his vision for a moment.

Tao’s malicious laughter filled his ears as he tried to sit up. His head felt like it was spinning as he struggled to get to his feet. When he found his footing, he noticed that Tao was running to the destroyed wall he hid behind earlier.

Sunggyu’s brows furrowed, wondering what Tao was up to. He was pissed off, not believing that he was actually tricked by the mercenary. He couldn’t believe that he actually believed there was cat behind him.

When Tao ducked behind the wall, the mercenary’s plan clicked in his head. He was getting his grenade launcher. Sunggyu ran after Tao, pulling a machine gun from out of nowhere. He began shooting rapidly at the wall.

Tao, luckily, avoided whatever bullets that pierced through wall and lunged for his launcher. He pressed several buttons that adorned the weapon, readying to shoot a missile out of it.

Sunggyu made it to the wall just in time to see Tao perch the weapon onto his shoulder, aiming it him. The caramel haired man stopped in his tracks, eyeing Tao warily. He kept his machine gun aimed at the mercenary.

“This is it, Sunggyu!” Tao laughed, pressing a few more buttons on the launcher. The weapon had begun to rumble again as the grenade launcher finished its preparations. It was ready to shoot out another missile. “Any last words before I pull the trigger and end your miserable, little life?”

“Uh…” Sunggyu drawled, eyeing his surroundings. He looked for anything that could help him. He noticed that the floor above them–or at least what was left of the floor above them–looked like it would come crashing down on them with just the littlest disturbance.

“Well?” Tao urged.

“I have nothing to say to you!” He speedily raised his machine gun and shot at the ceiling, forcing it to collapse and come crashing down onto them. He rushed out of the building before that could happen.

“Huh–?” Tao looked up. His eyes widen as he saw the floor collapsing above him. Right before he was crushed, he pulled the trigger. A missile propelled out of the launcher, flying straight towards Sunggyu.

Fortunately, Sunggyu dropped to the ground, miraculously dodging the rocket in the nick of time. He immediately got up afterwards, watching the missile head in Woohyun’s direction.

Woohyun’s eyes widen as he took in the scene in front of him. Before his brain comprehended what was heading towards him, his body forced itself to the ground, avoiding the rocket as it flew over his head. A huge explosion occurred somewhere behind him. He grabbed onto the streetlight for leverage. The impact of the explosion itself was strong, though, pulling the lamppost out of the ground and sending it and Woohyun along with it towards a building at high speed.

The brunet screamed as he flew towards the building. However, he crashed into something else that he had failed to see earlier first. A loud groan filled his ears as Woohyun himself and whatever he crashed into fell to the ground.

“What in the actual hell?” A voice gasped for the air that was knocked out of him.

With what little strength he had at the moment, Woohyun sat up and saw that it was Sunggyu he had crashed into. He was sitting on top of the caramel haired man.

“I’m sorry!” Woohyun apologized.

“Get the fuck off me, Woohyun,” Sunggyu breathed, trying to push the brunet off him. Woohyun weighed more than he looked.

The brunet apologized again and stood up.

“Holy shit!” Woohyun heard from behind. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Hoya and Dongwoo scurrying away from a car that caught on fire.

Sunggyu slowly stood up, groaning as his body protested in pain.

“Sunggyu!” Woohyun gasped.

The resistance leader looked at him and saw him pointing to the pile of rubble Tao was supposedly under. When he looked, his eyes widen as Tao emerged from destroyed building practically unharmed. His grenade launcher was nowhere in sight.

“How…? How is that possible? H-How are you still  _alive_?!” Sunggyu swallowed the lump in his throat as Tao climbed over some debris and back onto the street.

“I’m not just your average mercenary, Sunggyu. Yongguk specifically called me and my team in to kill your group and capture you. However, you already know about me wanting to kill you instead of capturing now.” He explained. He rolled his shoulders, popping a few bones back into place.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Sunggyu mumbled under his breath. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up. He gripped his machine gun, aiming it at Tao. He pulled the trigger.

The stream of bullets hurtled through the air, all of them hitting Tao in the chest. The mercenary staggered back as his blood splattered everywhere, but he did not fall to the ground. Sunggyu’s brows furrowed. The caramel haired man was confused. Where was all this coming from? How was it, suddenly, that Tao could withstand a bullet to the chest but somehow, earlier, a punch could knock him down to the ground easily? Sunggyu lowered his gun, baffled by the turn of events.

“Are you done having fun shooting me?” Tao smiled.

“What  _are_  you? You’re not  _human_.”

“I know.” And with that, Tao ran towards Sunggyu, leaped in the air, and landed behind the caramel haired man. He quickly spun around, giving Sunggyu a spinning kick to the back. The attack sent Sunggyu plummeting into a nearby wall.

Tao turned to Woohyun, who stood still stricken with fear. “Now it’s your turn.” Before Woohyun could turn and run, Tao rushed up to him and grabbed him by his throat. He squeezed it tight, lifting the brunet off of the ground.

Woohyun grabbed his hand, trying to relieve the pressure around his neck. However, he did not have enough strength to accomplish such a task. His vision began to blur. He gasped for air.

“Let him go!” Sunggyu yelled, gaining the mercenary’s attention.

Tao looked over his shoulder and saw Sunggyu using the wall he crashed into as support as he struggled to stand up. He was breathing heavily. He was sure a few of his ribs cracked after that last move.

“Let him go now, Tao!” Sunggyu called out again.

“You talk about me not being human. Look at you. You should also be dead as well.”

Sunggyu coughed. Blood oozed from his mouth. “I’m running on adrenaline at the moment.”

“Well, let me end that adrenaline for you,” Tao threw Woohyun to the ground and walked to Sunggyu.

Woohyun gasped for air, feeling the skin around his neck. His vision cleared as oxygen filled his lungs. Woohyun just saw his whole life flash before his eyes.

He was not impressed.

Not one bit.

The brunet sat up, breathing heavily. He coughed and wheezed still feeling the effects of being choked. With the coughing fit subsided, he used the ground to push himself up. As he stood up, he saw a metal pipe lying on the ground next to him. It must’ve come from one of the buildings that were destroyed by Tao.

He looked at the pipe before casting his eyes on the ongoing fight between Sunggyu and Tao. It was obvious Tao was going to win. Sunggyu had no more strength left. He was barely holding it together. Woohyun continued to watch as Tao kicked Sunggyu in the shin, knocking him to the ground. The brunet tore his eyes away from the battle and eyed the pipe again. He had to do something. Something before Sunggyu died. He needed to save the man. Woohyun contemplated for a moment before picking up the pipe.

Sunggyu wheezed, gasping for air as Tao continued to kick him in the stomach. He tried to curl up and protect himself, but he failed miserably.

Tao kicked Sunggyu onto his back and stomped harshly on the resistance leader’s chest, pushing down hard. He was pretty sure he heard a few ribs crack under the pressure. He pulled out the knife that he killed Chen with and crouched down next to Sunggyu. He pressed the blade against Sunggyu’s neck.

“I’m going to enjoy this moment for the rest of my life. People will be talking about this day for a long time. I can see it now, Sunggyu,” Tao smiled. “Newspapers everywhere would have headlines saying how I killed the leader of INFINITE, the rebel group bent on destroying our wonderful government–”

“ _Wonderful_?” Sunggyu spat. “You know as well as I do that our government it nowhere near  _wonderful_.”

“True, but it’s not like I really care. What’s important is that I’ll be famous for killing you! So once again, any last words?” He pressed the knife against Sunggyu’s neck harder, drawing a thin line of blood.

“Yeah…”

“What is it?”

“Behind you!”

“What–?” Tao glanced over his shoulder only to get slammed in the face with a metal pipe. The impact of the hit shoved Tao off of Sunggyu and skidding across the ground a few feet away.

Woohyun took a deep breath as he dropped the pipe. “Are you okay?” He asked, kneeling down beside Sunggyu.

“I’ve been better,” he coughed, sitting up. “Thank you, Woohyun.”

Woohyun shook his head. A slight smile formed on his face. There was no way he would just stand on the sidelines and watch as Sunggyu was about to be killed.

The brunet glanced over to the stilled body of Tao. He knew he hit the man hard–the sickening crunch of the metal hitting his skull was loud enough to indicate that. He was pretty sure the man was dead. He wasn’t moving. Human or not, Tao should’ve died from that blow to the head. Woohyun’s stomach dropped as guilt took over. He had just killed someone.

Woohyun stuck his hand out, offering to help Sunggyu stand back up. Sunggyu took the hand. It took a couple of seconds for the caramel haired man to find his footing. Tao threw a lot of strength into those last few kicks.

Sunggyu limped over to Tao’s body and kicked him a few times to see if he was alive. He didn’t move. It didn’t look like he was breathing either. Woohyun guessed that Tao really was dead.

“Sunggyu! Woohyun!” Dongwoo called. Woohyun and Sunggyu turned around and saw their comrades running to them.

“Thanks for helping me out, you two,” Sunggyu sarcastically replied. Dongwoo laughed uneasily as Sunggyu fixed them with a nasty glare.

“You’re welcome,” Hoya responded.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Sunggyu sighed, wiping away the blood that covered his face.

“Back to the headquarters?” Dongwoo asked, handing his boss some tissues that he had pulled out from his backpack.

Sunggyu took the tissues, sending the blue haired man an appreciative nod. “No, we’re continuing the mission.”

Woohyun raised a brow at the statement. He didn’t think that Sunggyu would continue the mission after the beat down he’d received from Tao. The man looked like a zombie.

“We’ve already came this far. We might as well finish this damn mission.” He began limping towards the general direction that led to the underground transit tunnels. Woohyun, Dongwoo, and Hoya did not follow immediately.

“He looks like he’s about to pass out,” Hoya observed.

“He probably will,” Woohyun frowned.

Dongwoo looked at the watch that was on his left wrist. “The funeral for the police officer that Woohyun killed–”

“I didn’t kill him–”

“–ended about ten minutes ago. We needed to quickly get to the tunnels before any authorities come here. None of us are in any condition to fight anyone else, especially Sunggyu.” He looked at Sunggyu, who was far ahead of them now. He began to follow the resistance leader. Woohyun and Hoya trailed along.

“How long till we reach the BEQP since we’re on foot now?”

“Probably in another two hours.”

Woohyun sighed at the answer. Before he picked up the pace to catch up with Sunggyu, Woohyun glanced over his shoulder and looked at the dead body of Tao. He frowned, knowing he would have nightmares about this day for years.

As he turned back around and finally caught up with Sunggyu and the others, Woohyun had failed to hear the sickening sound of Tao’s bones cracking and popping back into place as he sat up.


	14. Fading Consciousness

"How long has it been since we last seen the light of day?” Hoya complained dramatically. He walked with a stagger, obviously feeling drained from the long journey.

“Five minutes,” Dongwoo answered.

“You lie!”

Dongwoo checked his watch, “You’re right! I stand corrected. It’s only been two hours.”

Sunggyu, Dongwoo, Woohyun, and Hoya had been walking in the abandoned underground transit tunnels for quite a while now. It was damp and quiet. And dark as hell. Everyone had to carry their own flashlight (courtesy of Dongwoo’s backpack) in order to see just a few feet ahead of them. It also smelled.

It smelled like Leeteuk.

Woohyun sighed as Hoya continued to whine over how long they’ve been walking. He was beginning to aggravate the young man. However, the brunet was quite exhausted himself, so exhausted that he became used to the constant pain wracking through his body. His left arm hurt tremendously, his neck was sore from being choked by Tao, and there was this constant pounding in his head and ringing in his ears. He must’ve hit his head exceptionally hard during the car crash. Despite the pain, Woohyun was sure Sunggyu was feeling worse.

Woohyun looked to Sunggyu, who was leading the group down the damp tunnels. He was wobbling slightly. The burnet was sure he would drop at any moment.

“–there, Woohyun?”

Said man snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Dongwoo’s voice. He looked to his blue-haired companion, waiting for him to repeat himself. Hoya was standing next to him, eyeing him with a frown.

Understanding the look, Dongwoo repeated, “You alright there?”

“Um, yeah, I’m okay. I was just lost in my thoughts,” he nodded, glancing back at Sunggyu. The leader stopped walking and was eyeing the three of them with an abnormal look.

_Weirdo._  Woohyun thought.

He turned back to Dongwoo. “But can we, maybe, take a break or a few minutes? I’m a bit weary.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Hoya asked. He looked skeptical. Dongwoo was giving him the same look. Woohyun concluded that he must’ve looked like a wreck on the outside.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me,” Woohyun gave a slight smile to help deter their worriment towards him. It wasn’t a complete lie, though. The brunet was okay enough to continue on. He just needed to rest for a moment. The pressure in his head had not ceased.

“Yeah, sure,” Dongwoo looked in the direction they came from. “I think we’ve traveled far and long enough to take a break. I’m a little tired myself.”

As the three made their way to a platform attached to the tunnel walls, Sunggyu did not immediately follow. He instead grabbed a nearby trashcan and dragged it over to the platform. He then checked the inside of it, nodding to himself slightly.

“Dongwoo,” Sunggyu’s voice was rough and harsh as it reverberated in the tunnel. “Do you have a match or something? I want to start a fire.”

Said man did not say anything as he rummaged around in his bag. He pulled out a couple of matches and handed them to his boss.

Woohyun leaned against the tunnel wall and slid to the ground, watching the flames come to life inside the trashcan. He could already feel the warmth of the fire. The brunet had to admit it was quite cold. He wished he still had Dongwoo’s Batman hoodie to wear. But because his left arm had to be in a sling to prevent further damaged to his injured shoulder, he had to abandon it.

“Hey, Woohyun?” Dongwoo pulled him out of his thought again. He sat down to his left. Sunggyu took the spot to his right. A small, painful groan could be heard from him as he tried to get into a comfortable sitting position. Hoya leaned against the wall next to Dongwoo.

Woohyun hummed, feeling overly worn out. Now that he actually got to sit down and rest, the pain in his body seemed to intensify.

“What is your time like?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where you grew up… was it anything like this? You’ve never been through anything like this before, right?”

Woohyun shook his head. “Life… was simple for me. I lived with my mom and my older brother before he, and eventually I, moved out. I went to and graduated from high school. I’m currently in college.” He didn’t really know how to explain to them about his peaceful life. Thinking about it now, Woohyun’s life was quite boring and uneventful. That was one of the main reasons why he made that specific wish on Mr. Shooting Star.

Dongwoo looked interested. “College? I always wanted to go to a college. It’s too expensive, though. And only upper-class citizens are allowed to go. What did you major in?”

“Music composition,” Woohyun answered, giving a small, sudden yawn afterwards. He must have been much more tired than he thought.

“Must’ve been nice,” Woohyun heard Sunggyu mumble next to him.

“It’s tough and stressful. But I loved the classes,” his voice slurred a bit towards the end. Woohyun’s eyes felt heavy. His head felt heavy. Everything felt heavy. Although he was sitting down, the tunnel felt like it was spinning. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and subconsciously leaned his head to the right, laying it on Sunggyu’s shoulders.

“What the hell, Woohyun?” Sunggyu moved his shoulder, attempting to get the brunet off him.

“Sorry,” Woohyun straighten at the sudden movement. His eyes shot open, and he saw Dongwoo giving him a disquieted gaze.

“You okay, Woohyun? You seem really out of it suddenly.” Dongwoo asked again. He was very concerned about Woohyun.

“Do I?” Woohyun was a bit confused about his sudden behavior. He was worn out, extremely worn out. He could barely keep his eyes open. His whole body ached and felt weak.

Hoya pushed himself off the wall and jumped off the small platform. He gestured for Dongwoo to do the same. “Well, it has been a long, tiring morning, and we could all benefit from this short break, especially you two.” He nodded to Sunggyu and Woohyun. “How about you guys get some rest, and Dongwoo and I’ll stand guard for now.”

“Maybe if you two dumbasses had actually helped us instead of cowardly hiding behind a fucking car…” Woohyun’s felt his eyes close as he faintly listened to Sunggyu argue with the Hoya. The throbbing in his head began to worsen. He squeezed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose to help alleviate the pain. The INFINITE member’s voices became low and muffled, and soon enough, all he could hear was the constant ringing.

_“–hyun?”_

Woohyun didn’t have the strength to open his eyes anymore.

_“–hyun, you okay?”_

The brunet wasn’t sure where this sudden, extreme fatigue came from. Woohyun wasn’t sure what was happening.  Maybe if he just succumb to unconsciousness, everything would be better. He would feel better. Maybe a short nap for an hour or two would make all the pain go away.

Woohyun felt slight movement before he felt his head lie on something soft. He heard voices. He assumed it was still Dongwoo, Sunggyu, and Hoya. They sounded rushed and panicked, but Woohyun could not pinpoint who was talking, and he could barely understand what they were saying.

“– _Hey, Woohyun, stay with me!_ ”

The brunet felt a hand press against his cheeks. It was soft and warm, and Woohyun couldn’t help but slightly lean into it.

“ _What’s wrong with him–”_

_“Concussion maybe?”_

_“Woohyun, please don’t fall asleep–”_

_“Dongwoo, do you have a blanket or something to keep him warm?”_

Woohyun felt another hand on his face. It lightly patted him, attempting to get some sort response out of the young man. The patting continued, and Woohyun wanted to snapped at the person and tell them to leave him alone, but all he could do was whimper softly.

_“Hoya, stop hitting him–”_

The patting stopped.

_“Woohyun, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?”_

The brunet wanted to open his eyes and tell them yes he could hear them, but all he mustered up was a tiny nod. He then felt another hand on him, but this time, the fingers pressed against his skin, right above and below his left eye. His felt his eyelid forced open and bright yet painful light coming from a flashlight flooded his vision.

Before Woohyun could complain, the fingers disappeared, and his eyelid closed automatically. And then, suddenly, the process repeated with his right eye.

_“His eyes are dilated.”_

_“–late reaction from the car crash?”_

_“People can have a concussion without even knowing it or showing signs immediately.”_

_“What are we going to do–”_

_“The one time Sungjong is needed–”_

_“Should we head back?”_

_“We’re too far in–”_

_“Maybe we could find something–anything–at the BEQP to help him–”_

_“Like what, Sunggyu?”_

_“Well, I don’t know, but we have to do something!”_

_“Do what, though?”_

_“I don’t know! We promised him, Dongwoo! We promised we’d protect him and now he’s unconscious…”_

They were all talking too much, and their voices had gotten loud, and Woohyun wanted them to shut up. The pounding in his head became too much, and he just wanted it to all stop. He got his wish when the voices around him softened. Everything grew quiet, eerily quiet. All that could be heard was the beating of his heart and the ringing in his ears, and Woohyun failed to remain conscious.


	15. Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility: Part One

"Are we close?”

“Yeah, according to the blueprints Leeteuk gave us, there should be a door that leads to a stairwell up ahead. And that stairwell should lead us to at least the fifth floor, I believe.”

“But aren’t we supposed to head to the  _underground_  part of the facility?”

“We are, but there are no actual entrances to the laboratory from outside the facility. Once inside we’ll have to find an elevator or another stairwell that’ll lead down there.”

“That sounds  _super easy_.”

Woohyun squeezed his eyes as their conversation registered in his mind. He didn’t know exactly who was talking, but he did recognize the voices. His head was still pounding, but the ringing in his ears had ceased.

He felt warm, and he felt movement. He could tell he was leaning against something, or perhaps, someone.

The brunet tried to open his eyes to see what was going on, but it was hard. They felt heavy like lead. The struggle was unceasing  as he heard the others continue to talk.

“I think this is the entrance.”

“You sure?”

“Of course not.”

Woohyun finally found the strength to will his eyes open. Everything was dark and blurry as his eyes tried to focus. He could feel whoever he was leaning against stopped moving.

“You better be right, Dongwoo,” a familiar voice threatened.

Although it was still dark, Woohyun’s vision focused. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he recognized his surroundings. He was still in the tunnels.

The brunet’s brows furrowed.

_What happened?_ He thought.

He remembered asking to rest for a moment. And he remembered feeling extremely tired. He couldn’t recall much after that. It was all just a blur. Had he fallen asleep?

Sudden movement brought him out of his thoughts. Woohyun then realized that he wasn’t actually leaning on someone, but rather he was being carried. He felt a pair of hands holding him up around his thighs. His chest and left arm was pressed against their back while his right was simply dangling. His cheek was leaning against their shoulder.

He blinked a few times, wondering who he was with. He lifted his head and craned his neck to get a better look at who was carrying him. It was too dark to get a good look at their face, but the only thing that stood out in the darkness was his hair. His caramel colored hair was bright enough to see in the dingy tunnels.

His sudden movement alerted the man.

“You’re awake?” It was Sunggyu’s voice. He turned his head slightly to the left to look at the younger. Woohyun didn’t get a chance to answer, for two bright lights flooded his vision.

“Woohyun!” Dongwoo yelled joyfully. He walked up to the two and continued blinding Woohyun with his flashlight. The brunet flinched from the sudden brightness. “I was so worried! I honestly didn’t think you were going to wake up anytime soon… or at all really! And then we would have to bury you somewhere out in the outskirts of the city! And there would be a good chance your grave would be destroyed or at least stomped on and messed up by elephants–”

“Shut up, Dongwoo,” Hoya nudged him in the ribs, forcing the blue haired man to stumble a little, lowering his flashlight in the process.

“What happened?” Woohyun rasped.

God, it felt like he hadn’t talked in  _years_.

“You passed out while we were taking a break earlier,” Sunggyu answered.

“How long was I out?” He coughed. His throat and tongue felt like sandpaper.

“For almost two years,” Hoya frowned

“What?!” Woohyun screeched. Sunggyu flinched; it felt like his eardrums burst.

“Just kidding!” His frown turned upside down.

“Actually, you were unconscious for just a couple of hours,” Sunggyu said, lowering himself to the ground. Woohyun took that as a cue to get off him.

The brunet lost his footing for a moment when he pushed himself off the leader. The room felt like it was suddenly spinning. If it wasn’t for a hand that gripped his arm and the other placed on the small of his back, he was sure he would have collapsed.

“Steady there, Woohyun,” Dongwoo mumbled, helping him keep still. “We think you have a concussion, most likely from the car crash.” Woohyun closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. When he reopened his eyes, everything was still. The INFINITE members were all eyeing him with concern.

“Do you think you could walk or…?” Sunggyu asked, frowning.

Woohyun looked down at his feet and swallowed thickly. He took a couple of steps forward without stumbling. The room didn’t start spinning. Everything seemed fine now. “I think I’m okay for the moment.” He looked back up, giving Sunggyu a small smile.

Sunggyu nodded but didn’t seem convinced.

“I’m sorry for being such an inconvenience,” Woohyun apologized, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

He always hated being such a burden to others. That was the other main reason why he declined his brother’s offer to live with him when he was a teenager. He didn’t want to leave his mother all alone, but he also didn’t want to be a nuisance to Boohyun.

Sometimes, though, Woohyun wished he  _had_  taken the offer.

For a long time, the brunet had put the blame on himself for his brother’s sudden disappearance. He had always thought because he declined the offer, Boohyun thought he didn’t need him anymore. But Woohyun did, though.

He needed him.

He needed his brother.

Especially with everything going on right now.

Woohyun felt like curling up in a corner and crying, wishing all of this was a really just a very long nightmare.

“You’re not an inconvenience, Woohyun,” Hoya reassured. “If anyone is to blame, it’s Dongwoo–”

“Excuse me–?”

“His terrible driving skills are what caused us to crash–”

“Well, next time, I’ll let you drive when there is a rocket grenade heading towards–”

“Well,” Sunggyu interrupted the two’s argument. “Since you seem to be doing better, let’s go. We think we found the entrance into the BEQP.” Not waiting for a response, the resistance leader turned away and entered the stairwell. Dongwoo and Hoya followed.

Woohyun took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t collapse when he took a step. Finding his balance somewhat stable, the brunet slowly followed the other three. Although it seemed that his two hour  _nap_ helped his weary body recover from today’s earlier events, Woohyun was already dreading climbing the stairs.

The stairwell was quiet as everyone ascended it. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Well, everyone but Woohyun.

Woohyun wasn’t the most talkative person in the world, but he couldn’t stand the silence. There needed to be some sort of noise. He needed some sort of distraction. The brunet wanted to so badly to strike up a conversation with the resistance members about something–it didn’t matter what it was about–but everyone had some sort of deep, intense look on their face. And Woohyun was afraid to even make the slightest of sound.

Especially around Sunggyu, the older man might punch him again.

Recently, when things got quiet, that’s when Woohyun’s thoughts revolved around Suji–

Wait!

Woohyun couldn’t believe that he had forgotten to ask Sunggyu about Suji. Granted, a lot of stuff happened since the last time his thoughts revolved around her.

However, this was the perfect time. If his mother was actually telling the truth about the future and being a part of a resistance group (which Woohyun had hoped it was INFINITE), then Sunggyu would have no choice but to believe him, and then he would be able to figure out if Suji was alright and where she was at the moment.

Suddenly, Woohyun remembered the dream he had when he was knocked out during the car crash. The details were a bit blurry, and he couldn’t remember the entire conversation, but he had remembered he was talking to his brother. He remembered that his brother mentioned something quite odd. Boohyun said something along the lines of:

> ‘… _don’t_  tell Suji what’s going to happen to her…The results and the future would change drastically. You and I would not be born, for one thing. But it wouldn’t just affect us, but  _Sunggyu_ …’

But Sunggyu  _what_? What was Boohyun trying to say about Sunggyu? How did he even know Sunggyu? How did he know what was going on with Woohyun?

The brunet shook his head lightly. A headache began to form from all these thoughts. Too much was going on and not enough of it was making sense. Everything always seemed to link back up to Suji, though.

Woohyun glanced at Sunggyu, who was a couple of steps ahead of him. His mouth opened, readying to ask him about Suji, but the words refused to form. They refused to leave his mouth.

What if Boohyun was right?

What if mentioning Suji’s name threw everything in a loop and completely altered this timeline? What if saying anything messed up the future for worse?

But if that was true, then Woohyun was already screwed.

…But what if  _not_  saying anything twisted the timeline up as well?

There were so many  _what ifs_ and not enough _answers_.

Woohyun felt like slamming his head against the handrail in frustration.

Fuck  _what ifs_.

And  _fuck_  what Boohyun said.

Boohyun left him when he was kid. He had no right to tell him what to do. For all he knew, though, Boohyun was dead. So why should he listen and do what this  _dream Boohyun_  said?

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun called, gaining the resistance’s leader’s attention. The brunet eyed the other man for a moment before directing his attention to the steps in front of him. For some reason, he couldn’t look the man in the eyes. “Do… Do you know someone by the name of–”

“This is it, everyone!” Dongwoo announced, bouncing on feet in excitement. Everyone came to a sudden stop in front of a door. Woohyun eyed Dongwoo with an emotion he had never experience before.

Woohyun was a kind young man.

He had always tried to live every day to the fullest. And majority of the times, he had never regretted any of the decisions he had made.

Woohyun was a kind young man, who had a heart of gold.

He wasn’t violent in the least, and any sort of physical confrontation bothered him and made him sick to his stomach.

Woohyun was a kind young man, who had a heart of gold, and he had never wished that someone would suffer the most painful of deaths till he met the  _second-in-command_  of INFINITE.

He had half a mind to grab Dongwoo by the head and bash his skull in. He wanted to break every bone in the man’s body and then serve it to everyone in INFINITE on a platter.

_That’s it!_  Woohyun thought. He ran his hand through his hair, gripping it. He felt like he was losing it. He was so frustrated that he felt tears prick the corners of his eyes.  

Woohyun was done.

He was  _so_  done.

Obviously, he was not meant to ask about Suji.

_Obviously,_  the celestial beings from the skies above wanted him to keep his pretty, little mouth shut.

Sunggyu turned to Woohyun. “Woohyun, you were saying something before–”

“No!” Woohyun shook his head. “I’m not saying anything!” His voice cracked towards the end. “You hear me?!” He continued, looking up at the ceiling suddenly. “I’m not saying anything anymore! You guys win! I’ll shut up! I won’t say anything!” Woohyun drammtically fell to his knees, breathing harshly.

The caramel haired man’s brows furrowed in confusion. What the hell was  _wrong_  with this kid?

“Someone’s going mental,” Hoya mumbled, frowning at Woohyun. Dongwoo couldn’t help but agree with his partner.

“Right…” Dongwoo’s eyes lingered on the brunet for a moment before continuing. “This door,” he flashed his light to the exit in front of them. “Should lead us to the fifth floor. Once we leave this stairwell, we’re going to have to be quick and quiet. We need to find something–anything–that’ll lead us to the labs.”

Sunggyu finished, “Everyone, ready? Let’s try to avoid any sort of conflict till we at least reach the facility.”  Hoya and Dongwoo nodded, pulling out a gun to defend themselves in case they ran into anyone.

Woohyun stood up, finally recovering from his sudden outburst. The three resistance members eyed the brunet, expecting another breakdown. When Woohyun didn’t say anything, Sunggyu nodded at Dongwoo and grabbed the door knob, leaning against the door. Dongwoo leaned against the wall with his gun cocked and ready. Hoya stood next to him prepared as well. Still keeping quiet, Woohyun slowly walked behind Sunggyu.

“One…” Sunggyu whispered, gripping the door knob tight. “Two…” He twisted it. “Three!”

He pulled.

He pulled.

And he pulled.

The door did not budge an inch.

Sunggyu twisted the door knob a few times and pulled with all his might, but unfortunately, the door did not give way. Instead of pulling it, he pushed forward a couple of times just in case this particular door opened a different way, but it did not work either. He gave a frustrated sigh and glared at the blue haired man. “Dongwoo, are you sure this is the right door?”

“I am!” He claimed. He pulled the map out of his backpack and flashed his light on it. “According to this,” he pointed to a location on the map that was circled. “This is our exact location! Unless Leeteuk gave us the wrong map, this is the right door.”

Sunggyu groaned and stomp his foot in a childish way. “Why can’t anything ever go perfectly for us?” He then gripped the door knob again and gave a forceful pull; it didn’t help.

“Move, Sunggyu, let me try,” Hoya offered. As soon as the resistance’s leader moved out of the way, Hoya slammed against the door with his shoulder, grunting in pain. The sound of his body hitting the metal door echoed in the stairwell.

“What are we going do?” Dongwoo asked as he watched Hoya bang into the door a few more time.

Sunggyu pulled out a shotgun, aiming it at the door. He was going to blast the door open. “Maybe this’ll work–”

“No, Sunggyu!” Dongwoo quickly pushed the weapon away. “That’s not going to solve anything. The bullets are going to ricochet off the door and most likely hit one of us!”

“How about all of us slam into it? If we put enough force into it, then maybe it’ll give way?” Hoya suggested, rubbing his shoulder.

“Well, there’s nothing else we can do.”

Dongwoo, Hoya, Sunggyu got into position, readying to force the door open. Dongwoo handed his flashlight to Woohyun.

“Three,” Sunggyu started.

Woohyun felt numb as he watched the rebel soldiers fuss around with mild interest. Oddly enough, the burnet felt better after his outburst from earlier. He backed up a bit just in case the door actually gave way this time.

“Two,” Dongwoo continued.

Something on the doorknob caught Woohyun’s attention. He flashed a light on it. It looked like a button. Before the other three finished their  _slow_  countdown, Woohyun walked up to the door and pushed the button. He twisted the knob and pulled. The sound of metal scrapping against concrete resonated around them. Woohyun had successfully opened the door.

However, the others were not paying attention to what Woohyun just did, for their eyes were close, preparing to feel some sort of pain when their bodies collided with the door.

“One!” They all shouted and ran forward.

Woohyun watched as three lunged for the now-opened door, running past him and stumbling out into the hallway of the BEQP itself. They crashed into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and into one another, falling into a heap on the ground. A collective groan could be heard from them.

“Next time you guys are having a hard time opening a door, just check to see if it’s even unlocked first,” Woohyun suggested sarcastically as he walked out into the hallway. He eyed their surroundings.

The brightly lit hallway was completely barren and all the way down the hall was another door. Woohyun assumed it led to the main room of the floor they were on.

Sunggyu roughly pushed Hoya, who landed on top of him, and stood up. He gave Woohyun a malevolent scowl but did not say anything.

Woohyun mumbled a small sorry, feeling like he was just condemned to death by Lucifer himself.


	16. Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility: Part Two

Woohyun tried his best not to cry as his current predicament worsened. He eyed the ropes that dug into his wrists and ankles painfully. His skin grew red and raw as the slightest of movements rubbed against it.

The brunet wondered if the man in front of him would be willing to switch the ropes to something different. Different like wires, or perhaps leather.

Maybe  _wires_  weren’t the best replacement of natural fiber ropes.

Woohyun felt a painful pinch in his arm as the blond man in front of him injected some sort of blue substance in him.

“That shouldn’t have hurt,” the man mumbled, stuffing the needle into his lab coat pocket.

But it did hurt!

Woohyun wanted to complain about the rough treatment but only a jumble of muffled words could be heard from behind the rag that was stuffed in his mouth.

He mustered up his best glare and scowled at the man with the long, brown hair that was tied into a ponytail, standing in the corner, watching as Woohyun was about to be experimented on.

 _Damn you… Who was he again_?

Oh yeah. Woohyun mentally nodded.

_Damn you, Lee Taemin!_

“Now this  _should_  hurt,” the blond smiled creepily, picking up another needle. The liquid inside the vial was an ugly shade of green. “Hopefully, this won’t kill you like the last fifty people we injected this into.”

The brunet squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering as he felt the man grip his arm.

How did Woohyun get himself into this you’re probably wondering, right?

Well, it all started with a  _wish_.

A wish that ruined his  _life_!

 _Damn that Mr. Shooting Star!_  Woohyun cursed, mentally waving his fist in anger.

Woohyun wondered what he did to deserve such a fate as this. If he knew what was going to happen to him after he made that  _wish,_ he would had just asked for something simple.

Simple, like being Brad Pitt’s mistress.

…Maybe mistress wasn’t the right word since, according to Woohyun’s knowledge, he was not a woman.

What’s the male equivalent to a mistress?

Woohyun shook his head as he digressed from his current situation.

The brunet tried his best to back away from the blond scientist but being tied to a metal chair that was bolted to the ground proved to be quite difficult.

You’re still wondering how Woohyun ended up in this plight, right?

Well, besides Mr. Shooting Star, there were three other people to be blamed for this dilemma.

Jang Dongwoo.

Lee Hoya.

And Kim  _Fucking_  Sunggyu.

If Woohyun somehow survived this, he was going to make sure Sunggyu died an awfully painful death.

The brunet could not understand how that man was the leader of INFINITE. From the moment they stepped foot into the BEQP, everything went downhill, and it was all Sunggyu’s fault!

Well…

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t completely Sunggyu’s fault. Heck, the man saved his life,  _again_. But Woohyun needed someone to blame for his current predicament, and Sunggyu was the perfect candidate, especially after he got distracted and  _lost_  Woohyun and Taemin!

Despite the fact that he  _might_  die from whatever the scientist was about to inject into him, Woohyun couldn’t help but reminiscence about the series of unfortunate events that took place not too long ago. 

 

* * *

 

 

Woohyun watched as Dongwoo slowly and quietly opened the door and poked his head out. Not even a second later, he quickly pulled back into the hallway.

“Well?” Sunggyu asked, hoping that the coast was clear enough for them to figure out where they were going next.

“It’s empty. There was not a guard in sight,” Dongwoo confirmed.

“Did you see anything? Anything like an elevator or a stairwell or something?”

Dongwoo smiled, “I saw some elevators on the opposite side of the room!”

“Great. You guys ready?” He eyed his companions momentarily before gripping the door knob. They all nodded.

Sunggyu twisted the doorknob and opened the door. He briefly eyed their new surroundings before spotting the elevators across from them. A second later, they all rushed to the lift. Sunggyu pressed the down button for the elevator.

A number appeared on a screen above the doors, indicating that the lift was approaching from the twenty-fifth floor. Dongwoo and Hoya had their backs to the elevator, keeping an eye out on their surroundings.

“Exactly what are we going to do once we get to the lower levels?” Woohyun asked, watching the lift number count down.

“Find Dr. Wu Yifan without causing a ruckus and hand you over to him in exchange for information about the experiments. Then we’re going to take you back and get the hell out of here. Maybe blow up a couple of rooms in the process,” Sunggyu answered, eyeing the countdown as well.

The elevator passed the eighteenth floor.

“What does this scientist look like?”

Before Sunggyu could answer, Dongwoo suddenly shoved a newspaper clipping into Woohyun’s face. Hearing the zipping of a book bag in the background, the brunet didn’t even need to ask where the second-in-command got the paper from.

Woohyun inspected the article. It was slightly wrinkled and dated. The title of the article was,  _BEQP’s Newest Head Scientist._

It was published in 2856 SE. Six years before the time Woohyun was currently in.

Right below the title was picture of a young man with short blond hair that framed his face nicely, perfect unblemished skin, serious eyes, a slim nose, thick brows, and soft cheek bones.

Woohyun had to stop himself from gasping out loud.  _Shit, he’s hotter than me._

“He’s a bit older looking now, but that’s what he looks like,” Sunggyu informed.

The elevator passed the tenth floor.

The article read:

 

> _“It was just announced yesterday afternoon that Wu Yifan, better known as Kris Wu, was promoted to being the head scientist of the BEQP (Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox). The other head of the BEQP is Kim Joonmyun. Wu, age 23, is best known for further developing the Raychaudhuri’s theorem and exotic matter.”_

A gentle beeping noise alerted the group that the elevator had reached their floor. The doors slid open, allowing them to walk in.

Woohyun folded the newspaper clipping and stuffed it into his pocket as they entered the lift. Hoya and Sunggyu took the front while Woohyun and Dongwoo stood in the back. The elevator was completely barren and white just like the hallway. It was big and spacious as well. Opposite of the doors was a glass wall. Woohyun could see all of South Hallow.

“I’m assuming these represent the underground levels.” Hoya was referring to the elevators buttons. They ranged from the lowest of the underground levels, B5, to the forty fifth floor. As Hoya reached to press the button, the elevators closed and began to shift.

“What’s going on?” Woohyun panicked. He felt gravity push him down slightly as the lift ascended.

“Someone must’ve pressed the button,” he heard Hoya replied. He pressed the B5 button, making it glow white.

“Be prepared for a possible fight when this stops,” Sunggyu warned.

As the elevator continued to go up, Woohyun turned around and gazed at the city before him. What he was seeing was much different than what he saw when he was outside not too long ago. This view was much more similar to that of when he first arrived in South Hallow.

Despite being on the fifth floor, when the brunet looked down, he could not see the streets that he and the others traversed earlier. The building went on and on. Cars flew past to and fro in the distance. The only ground Woohyun could see were the walkways and bridges that connected the skyscrapers to one another. They were crowded with pedestrians. The young man wasn’t sure how long since they left the INFINITE headquarters, but it appeared that the sky was gradually fading from a dark shade of sunset to dusk.

Woohyun brows furrowed as something just occurred to him. Why were their previous surroundings extremely different to what he was seeing now? Why did the car they took to the broadcasting station drive on the ground while there were cars that could fly?

“The higher we get, the more advance South Hallow will look,” Dongwoo began. Woohyun glanced at him before observing the city more. The second-in-command of INFINITE always seemed to find the right moment to explain something about South Hallow to Woohyun. “South Hallow is split up into sectors, and the higher the sector, the more advance and civilize it may appear. The higher you are in the city, the more money people have. The higher you live, the richer you are.

“Each sector looks different. There are ten sectors. Most government officials and delegates live in the tenth sector while our headquarters are situated on the second. As I’m sure you saw, the neighborhood by HQ wasn’t the best looking. The earthquake had nothing to do with how it looked.”

Woohyun frowned, remembering how devastated the area looked. Everything was in ruins. “What about that place by Leeteuk’s house? What sector was that?”

“I believe that was sector four. It’s not a bad area; Hoya isn’t that the sector you’re from?”

Hoya nodded, looking over his shoulder. “Yeah, sector four isn’t all too bad compared to that of one and two. People from the upper sectors don’t mind traveling down to the fourth. But that’s as far as they'll usually travel down the sectors.”

“Sector one through four is considered poverty-stricken,” Dongwoo continued. “Sector five to seven is middle class and sector eight, nine, and ten is upper class.”

“Where are you from?” Woohyun asked, turning to him.

“Sector five, near the outskirts.”

“What about you, Sunggyu?” He glanced at the elder, whose back was still facing them.

“Sector ten,” he mumbled a moment later.

Woohyun was surprised. He wasn’t expecting someone so psychotic and violent to be from the richest sector in town. Comparing to what he has seen in sector two and from what Dongwoo was telling him about the highest sectors, he wondered what exactly happened to Sunggyu in the past that made him turn his back on being a wealthy member of society and becoming the leader of a group that opposed it and its people.

Woohyun turned back to look outside. He noticed that some of the buildings in the distance looked like they were falling into gentle ruins. It was probably from the earthquake. “What sector are we in now?”

Dongwoo peered through the glass beside Woohyun, his brows furrowing in the process. “I think the seventh. I’m not too sure. I don’t go past the fifth too often.”

“How did we get from the second sector to the fifth? We only went up, like, five flights back in the tunnels…”

“You probably couldn’t tell since you were unconscious for majority of the trip but those underground transit tunnels used to be the only way us  _poor folks_  could travel to other sectors. We used to be able to take the trains that travel through the tunnels, but YG stopped them. He wanted to keep us out of his perfect, little city. But there are other ways to get in, though.”

Woohyun sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. He felt another headache forming. It wasn’t because of his concussion, though. His head was throbbing from all the information Dongwoo kept telling him about South Hallow. This city was a complicated place, and Woohyun kept praying that this was all going to end soon and he could go back to his own time.

The elevator came to a sudden halt, gaining everyone’s attention. They had stopped at the thirtieth floor. The lift chimed, and the door slowly opened. In the blink of an eye, the resistance members pulled out their weapons, preparing to defend themselves. Woohyun frowned, remembering that Hoya still had not retuned the gun Sunggyu gave him.

When the doors fully opened, the group came face-to-face with a couple of men in business attire. They were both holding briefcases. The guy on the right, who had shoulder length brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, was holding a cup pressed to his lips. But he was obviously not drinking any of it. The young man to the left had short black hair with a few streaks of pink in it. It appeared that he was trying to loosen the tie around his neck, but his hand was frozen in place.

Everything grew quiet.

Everyone grew still as they eyed each other.

The INFINITE members held their guns up, aiming at the two men, but they did not pull the trigger. No one moved an inch. Woohyun swallowed the lump in his throat, afraid to make a sound. He hoped the situation did not escalate. The two men appeared harmless, and hurting them would be pointless.

The man with the long brown hair blinked slowly and then turned to his companion, lowering his cup. “So what were you saying, Kibum?” He stepped into the elevator, ignoring the hostile-looking people that occupied the lift. His friend slowly followed. He kept his back towards the doors, eyeing the rebels with apprehension; unlike his friend, Kibum actually paid them attention. Sunggyu and his group lowered their guns, deciding that they were harmless, but they kept their guards up.

“T-There’s this new c-club that opened down the street f-from C-Chaerin’s place…”

“Oh yeah! What’s it called again?” He pressed the seventh floor button.

“S-S-Shawol…”

“Yeah, that’s it! We definitely need to go this weekend!” Their conversation died down as the elevator slowly descended back down.

Kibum did not take his eyes off of the INFINITE members. The longer he was in the elevator, the more he appeared nervous. He pressed his back against the doors, trying to make the space between him and the group bigger. Woohyun felt bad for the guy.

“T-T-T-Taemin…”

“Hm?” His friend turned to him. He noticed Kibum looking at the other occupants in the elevator. “What’s up!” He cheerfully greeted. It was as if Sunggyu and the others were not pointing guns at them a few moments ago. Taemin eyed their clothing and weapons. “Did I miss the memo about a convention happening in town this week or something?” He chuckled. “I used to go to a lot when I was younger! What kind of convention is it? You guys look so authentic with the tattered up army gear and weapons. And the blood looks real! You look like you belong in some sort of rebel group that fights against the corrupted government. Well, except you,” he gestured to Woohyun. “You look like some random homeless person.” Woohyun’s face scrunched up at the insult.

“Taemin, I think they’re the  _real deal_ ,” Kibum’s voice cracked towards the end.

“Yeah, right!” Taemin shook his head, not understanding what made his co-worker thought they were actually dangerous. He continued, “I’m Lee Taemin!” He held his hand out in front of Sunggyu, smiling brightly. A whimper of fear erupted from Kibum.

Sunggyu glared at Taemin, then at the hand extended in front of him, and then back to the worker. Not deterred by the malicious expression, he directed his hand to Hoya, who also ignored it. Luckily, Taemin did not receive a glare from him.

Woohyun rolled his eyes at his companion’s rudeness. His pushed past Hoya and Sunggyu and used his good hand to shake Taemin’s hand. “Hello, I’m Woohyun.” He gave a small smile.

“Hm,” Taemin’s brows furrowed as he pulled back his hand. “Have we met before?” He leaned in close to Woohyun, inspecting his face.

“I highly doubt that.” Woohyun took a step back.

“Really? You look really familiar… Ah, well.” He shrugged and turned around. Kibum slowly turned around, but he kept glancing at the others over his shoulder every few seconds.

Woohyun a felt a hand on his shoulder, and he was gently pulled back. A voice whispered in his air, “They may appear harmless, but don’t ever let your guard down around anyone who works in the BEQP.” It was Dongwoo’s.

The elevator grew quiet as it continued to descend. It wasn’t until they reached the fifteenth floor when the situation worsened for Woohyun and the others.

Peaceful classical music suddenly filled the elevator, gaining everyone’s attention. And then, suddenly, a close-up of a woman was projected onto the elevator’s doors. She had long, dark brown, curly hair that had a tint of red to it. She gave the occupants of the elevator a small smile. Woohyun whipped his head around, looking for the source of the projection. He couldn’t find any.

 

> _“Hello,” she greeted, bowing her head slightly. “I am Han Seungyeon, and this is a brief recorded message, reminding the citizens of South Hallow to be safe and on guard till the crisis is over. Yesterday, in the late afternoon, a dangerous young man, who has yet to be identified, brutally assaulted a police officer.”_

Her face panned to the left as a picture of said police officer appeared next to her. The name Choi ‘T.O.P’ Seunghyun appeared below the picture. Woohyun swallowed the lump in his throat as he recognized the officer.

 

> _“The attack took place in sector four by the abandoned children’s home on the corner of Cottage Avenue and Merry Creek Farms,” Seungyeon continued. “The authorities have yet to locate the murderer, but a city-wide manhunt is taking place as you are watching this. Kwon Jiyong, the chief of police, warns the citizens of South Hallow to stay indoors at all cost until this terrorist has been caught.”_

A picture of Woohyun, the same picture that was taken after he poked the police officer yesterday, appeared on screen.

Woohyun frowned as he saw himself appear on the screen. The picture was very unflattering, for his mouth was wide open, as if he was in the process of screaming, and his eyes looked like they were bulging out of his face. If Woohyun’s left arm wasn’t in a sling, he would had crossed his arms and humph at the image.

Well, his injury did not stop him. He stomped his foot and huffed instead.

Dongwoo, Sunggyu, and Hoya eyed him, realizing how detrimental the situation could turn into.

“Hey, Kibum! Did you see this earlier?” Taemin said, pointing to the image of Woohyun. “This guy’s face was plastered everywhere around my place!”

 

> _“If you see this man,” Seungyeon concluded. “Please call this number and alert the authorities!”_

A ten-digit number appeared. Seungyeon faded away, but the picture of Woohyun and the telephone number remained.

“I’ve been seeing this guy  _all_  day! He looks familiar, though, like I just saw him…” Taemin exclaimed, snickering. “Man, I hope they catch this guy, right?” He nudged Kibum’s shoulder to get some sort response out of him. “Right, Kibum?”

He looked towards his friend and noticed him gaping at the image. Before Taemin could question his weird behavior, Kibum swiftly turned around and pointed an accusing finger at Woohyun. His hand tremble as his mouth opened. He did not speak a word, but his intentions were obvious.

Woohyun stepped back, startled by his actions. Sunggyu and his partners gripped their weapons tightly, preparing to defend Woohyun, if need be.

Taemin slowly looked at Woohyun, then Kibum, back to Woohyun, then Kibum again, then to the picture of Woohyun on the elevator door, and then finally back to Woohyun. The image of Woohyun and the telephone number faded away.

“I thought you looked familiar.” This time he wasn’t referring to Woohyun. The brunet couldn’t tell who he was looking at. He assumed he was talking to Sunggyu, since he remembered Dongwoo telling him that their leader was once in the army, but it appeared he wasn’t solely directing that comment to Sunggyu.

Taemin blinked, regarding the four men in front of him for a moment. He reached over to Kibum and forced the man’s arm down. He then gently pushed him away so that he was standing in the far corner away from everyone else. Obviously Kibum was not meant to fight, for he did not resist the push and cowered into the corner. He used his briefcase as some sort of shield.

“So… how do you want to do this?” Taemin inquired, all traces of a smile gone from his face.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. I’m sure you are aware of who we are. And if you want to fight us, you  _two_   _will not_  make it out of this elevator alive. However, we won’t do anything as long as  _you_  don’t do anything,” Sunggyu advised. His voice was low and deep and menacing. Woohyun swallowed the lump in his throat as his body froze with nervousness. He glanced at the floor number above the elevator doors. They just arrived at the tenth. If they could just reach the seventh floor where the two workers needed to get off…

Taemin gave a small nod and took a sip from his cup. He eyed the liquid for a moment. “That sounds nice and all,” he uttered, slowly pouring the contents of the cup onto the floor. He then dropped the cup itself afterwards. “But, you see,” he looked back to Sunggyu. An emotion that Woohyun could not identify flickered in his eyes. “…where would be the  _fun_  in that? Especially after what happened six years ago.” A malevolent smile slowly developed on his face.

Sunggyu’s body stiffened as the realization of who Taemin was and  _what_ he was talking about dawned on him. “You–”

Before he could finish, Taemin slammed his briefcase into Hoya, knocking him off guard. The briefcase popped opened in the process, and the long-haired man pulled a gun out, clicking the safety off. He then quickly spun around and roundhouse kicked Dongwoo into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Taemin then turned to Woohyun and Sunggyu, the latter moved in front of the brunet to protect him.

Noticing the movement, Taemin said, “He’s obviously not one of your men. Why are you protecting him? Is he special?”

“That’s of none of your concern!” Sunggyu lunged towards Taemin, throwing a fist. The light brown haired man easily dodged it and threw his own. Sunggyu raised his arm and blocked the hit. He then quickly grabbed the fist and pulled Taemin close to him, landing a punch to his gut.

Taemin staggered back a bit, coughing up blood. Sunggyu raised his gun, readying to shoot, but Taemin recovered quickly and lunged for Sunggyu. The caramel haired leader pulled the trigger, but missed, for the young man kicked the gun out of his hand. The bullet whizzed through the elevator, ricocheting off the walls. Everyone became distracted as they tried to avoid the bullet as it whizzed through the air.

Woohyun stumbled backwards, his back colliding with the glass walls harshly, narrowly missing the bullet as it hurtled past him. The bullet eventually lodged itself into the crevice of the elevator doors.

Taking advantage of the temporary diversion, Taemin kneed Sunggyu in the stomach. The resistance leader grunted in pain as he fell to his knees. Taemin then aimed his own gun at Woohyun, giving the other a malicious smirk.

Seeing this, the brunet gasped and tried to back away further, but he could not. “You look like a nice guy, but you’re a wanted man, and you’re associated with these people. Therefore, I must kill you.” He then pulled the trigger.

The sound of glass shattering filled the elevator; wind gusted into the elevator.

One moment, Woohyun saw Hoya tackle Taemin to the ground as he pulled the trigger. And then, suddenly, all Woohyun could see was the dark shade of sunset that belonged to the skies of South Hallow.

Woohyun gasped, his eyes widening, as he continued to fall backwards out of the elevator. It was so sudden; he could not utter a scream. He heard his name, but he could not recognize the voice over the howl of the wind.

The brunet then felt a sudden jerk, and he was no longer falling. Pain intensified around the wrist, and it felt like his arm was being pulled out of its socket. The hand wrapped around his wrist tightened, and Woohyun looked up.

His eyes met dark brown ones that were filled with panic and distress.

“Don’t worry,” Sunggyu gritted through his teeth as he held onto Woohyun with all his might. “I got you.”

“S-Sunggyu,” Woohyun choked; his vision blurred. He felt his heart palpitate against his chest.

He was going to fall.

He was going to die.

“Hey, don’t cry! I said, I got you, okay? You’re not going to fall. I promise.”

“Promise?” He whimpered. He could feel the grip on his wrist loosen. He tore his eyes away from Sunggyu and looked down. He could not see the ground. He wondered how long the fall would be.

“Look at me; don’t look down,” he used his other hand to grab onto Woohyun’s wrist. “I promise… I promise I won’t let you fall.”

Woohyun swallowed the lump in his throat. He looked back up to Sunggyu. “I-I’ll h-hold you to that!” He felt his tears stroll down his cheeks. Sunggyu gave a strained smile, shaking his head slightly.

“I will  _never_  let go.”


	17. Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility: Part Three

Woohyungave a small smile in return as he felt himself being pulled up slowly.

“It’s a good thing you’re not heavy, Woohyun,” Sunggyu grunted, tightening his grip further. “Do you ever eat? You’re as light as a fucking _girl_.”

Woohyun’s smile turned upside down. Leave it to Sunggyu to rescue him _and_ insult him at the same time.

“Need help?” Dongwoo asked, peering over the edge at Woohyun. Not waiting for an answer, though, he reached out and grabbed Woohyun’s arm. With the added help, Woohyun was successfully pulled back into elevator.

The brunet never had a serious fear of heights before, but after this near-death experience, he was pretty sure he would never get on another roller coaster.

“Are you alright, Woohyun?” Dongwoo frowned, inspecting the younger man. “Did you get hit by the bullet?”

Woohyun shook his head, wiping his tears away. He inched away from the edge of the elevator, not wanting to fall out again. Almost getting shot again and falling out of an elevator was something he never wanted to experience. The brunet looked up and noticed they were just about to reach the eighth floor.

“This mission is just getting more and more dangerous for you,” Dongwoo mumbled apologetically. He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at the brunet in front of him. He was starting to think that convincing and taking Woohyun on this mission was the biggest mistake he had ever made.

“Argh! Get off of me! You all are going to regret this!” Taemin grunted, attempting to break free of the hold Hoya had on him. The resistance member had his knee digging into Taemin’s back, one hand bounding both of his hands above his head and the other hand had a knife pressed to the back of his neck.

“What now, Sunggyu?” Hoya asked, ignoring Taemin.

Before Sunggyu could answered, the elevator lights turned red and started flashing. Sirens blared from the speaker inside the lift. Everyone cringed as the alarms grew louder.

“What’s going on?” Woohyun screamed over the noise. He looked towards the doors and saw that Kibum had opened up a small box above the floor buttons. He was yelling into the intercom and rapidly pressing a red switch below that had the word ‘EMERGENCY’ imprinted upon it. He couldn’t hear what the man was saying over the sirens.

Woohyun wasn’t the only one who saw him, though. Sunggyu stomped up to him, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and snatched him away. He then slammed the worker into ground, pressing a gun to his head.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Woohyun heard Sunggyu yell over the alarm. When Kibum shook his head and refused to answer, the resistance leader smashed the butt of his gun against the man’s skull, knocking him out.

Sunggyu quickly pushed himself off the ground and inspected the elevator buttons. He began pressing various switches that adored the box but nothing worked. He then groaned loudly and punched the wall out of frustration.

Feeling like he should do something, Woohyun moved Sunggyu out of the way and observed the buttons. After briefly glancing over the buttons, his eyes fell upon one particular switch. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. He pressed a green button and the sirens died down. The lights began to slowly alternately between red and white.

Woohyun turned to Sunggyu and pointed to the green button he had pressed. The words ‘EMERGENCY OFF’ was written upon it. Sunggyu frowned and crossed his arms, scowling at the switch.

“It’s too late!” Taemin laughed. He was still on the ground with Hoya on top, but he was no longer struggling. “That alarm alerted the entire building that you _fools_ intruded our facility. That camera up there is now showing everyone what’s going on in here, and they’ll know exactly who you all are.”

Sunggyu tsked and looked up at the camera that was hanging from the ceiling. He raised his gun and shot it, destroying the recording device.

“It’s no use!” Taemin claimed. “Everyone knows you’re here. _Yongguk_ probably knows you’re here.”

“Well, I _hope_ he knows!” Sunggyu sneered. He nodded towards Hoya, and said man got off Taemin. The caramel haired man grabbed Taemin by the arm and forced him to stand up.

And at that precise moment, the elevator doors dinged and slowly slid open, alerting everyone that they reached the seventh floor. Hoya and Dongwoo raised their guns. Woohyun hid behind Sunggyu, peeking over the elder’s shoulder.

The brunet’s brows furrowed as the doors slid completely open. There was no one there. The hallway was completely empty.

Dongwoo lowered his gun but kept his finger on the trigger. He walked slowly past the doors and eyed their surroundings. After a moment–Hoya pressed the ‘Open Door’ button to keep them open–he turned to Sunggyu and shook his head. “It’s completely empty. There’s no one in sight.”

“Take him out there.” Sunggyu gestured to the unconscious Kibum. Dongwoo, with Hoya’s help, lifted Kibum and threw– _literally_ –him into the hallway. The elevators doors then closed and continued its descent to the underground levels.

“Hoya, press the B1 button,” Sunggyu ordered. Hoya nodded, doing as he was told. “Now that they know we are here, we cannot afford to stay on this elevator much longer. We’re going to get off on the basement first floor and travel down to the fifth some other way.”

“What are you planning on doing in the underground levels?” Taemin demanded, struggling against the hold Sunggyu had on him.

“We’re paying Yifan a visit,” Sunggyu smirked.

“What business do you have with Dr. Wu?!”

“That’s between us. But don’t worry, as long as you _behave_ you’ll find out.”

It wasn’t long before they reached the first floor of the underground levels. Just as it had previously done, the elevator dinged, and the doors slowly slid open. They all filed out of the lift one by one.

“This place is seriously lacking with security.”

Woohyun nodded, agreeing with Hoya’s statement. The brunet was expecting wave after wave of security coming after them, attempting to stop them. Woohyun wasn’t complaining, though. He would rather the hallway be desolate, just like the rest of the facility they had encountered so far, than walking into a crowded room filled with scientists and security.

Walking down the only path they saw, the resistance members (and Woohyun and a struggling Taemin), followed the hallway into a larger area. The room was filled with various computers and generators. It reminded Woohyun of what the main room of the INFINITE headquarters looked like. There was a gigantic monitor attached to the wall on the other side of the room.

The skeletal image of a body could be seen on the screen rotating. Woohyun walked further into the room, approaching the monitor. The name _Patient X_ flashed on the screen above the body. To the right of the figure were several formulas and equations, pointing to various parts of the body.

They reminded the brunet of his high school algebra class.

And that was a time in his life he did not want to remember.

Woohyun cringed mentally at the thought of his pimply, oiled complexion back in freshman year.

Woohyun shook his head, eyeing the formulas on the monitor again. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the information, but it looked important. What truly captured his attention was the rotating body, though. Every few seconds, the skeletal figure morphed into another body but with skin.

The brunet’s brows furrowed. The fully skinned figure on screen looked familiar. He felt like he had seen him before. Woohyun closed his eyes, thinking about everyone he had met recently. He knew he had seen the man, but where? It was on the tip of his tongue.

The shutter of a camera distracted the young man. Hoya appeared beside him, taking several more pictures of the monitor.

“Why are you taking pictures?” Woohyun asked.

“As proof and leverage,” Hoya informed, lowering his camera. “My job for this mission was to capture as much evidence of the heinous crimes that go down here as I could. This looks pretty interesting to me.”

“What will you do with the pictures?”

“Make several copies and have Sungyeol leak them to the press. Despite being public enemies, a lot of people support our cause. Mainly the citizens from the lower sectors, though. One of the reasons why Sungyeol is a part of INFINITE is because of the many connections he has with the press. The guy can easily persuade and leak damaging information about YG to the media. With these pictures, maybe we can get more of a following from the upper sectors.”

Everything INFINITE has done so far was very admirable in Woohyun’s eyes. From what he gathered and has been told, YG seemed to be profoundly immoral and malevolent. The fact that anyone even had the courage to stand up against the dictator and his political party was commendable.

Woohyun glanced at Sunggyu, who was talking lowly to Taemin. Said person looked disgusted by the fact that Sunggyu even had the nerve to talk to him. But Woohyun didn’t care about that. Sunggyu was…

Sunggyu was… praiseworthy?

That didn’t seem like the right word to describe the man.

He watched Sunggyu for a moment. And he couldn’t help but smile slightly. Sunggyu didn’t seem so bad now, now that he wasn’t accusing him of ridiculous things every couple of minutes. Despite their rocky start the other day–Sunggyu insulting him, Woohyun insulting him–he hoped they will be able to start over. Sunggyu had saved his life numerous times in one day.

When all of this was over, Woohyun was going to apologize to Sunggyu.

Maybe they could be friends?

... _Nah_ , that was pushing it.

Woohyun turned back to Hoya, a smile still playing on his lips. However, the expression disappeared as he saw Hoya looking at him weirdly; a look of concern furrowed his brows. He had just caught Woohyun smiling creepily at his leader.

Woohyun fake coughed, covering his mouth with his hand. “Do you understand any of this?” Woohyun gestured to the formulas on the screen, trying to continue their conversation.

Hoya shook his head, eyeing Woohyun warily. “Not at all. If anyone were to understand this, it would either be Sungjong or Sungyeol. They’re the smart ones.” He gave a small smile and a chuckle as he said the last part. He stared at the monitor for a moment before turning back to Woohyun. “There had been rumors that had been circulating around for a while…” Hoya started again. “You see, our country, South Hallow, is currently at war with the neighboring country Greywyn. And last time I checked, we’re losing. Up until six years ago, the scientists here at the facility had always been working on time travel and the like. But they’re not anymore.

“This is one of the many reasons why we’re here. We’re trying to figure out _why_ they’ve stopped. And you see, the rumors that had been circulating around recently, some say instead of forcibly taking the citizens of South Hallow and testing their theories of time travel on them, the scientists are now experimenting on them, trying to create some sort of _super soldier_.”

“Super soldier?” Woohyun remembered Leeteuk accusing him of being a _super soldier_ when they first met.

“Yeah,” Hoya nodded. He began to take more pictures of the room as he continued explaining to Woohyun. “They say the kidnapped citizens are put through rigorous training and experience. And during the process, the scientists experiment on them and genetically enhance and modify their DNA, giving them superhuman strength, speed, and endurance.”

“They actually do that?” Woohyun asked. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of a country performing such inhumane procedures on their people.

“Who knows? That’s why it’s called a _rumor_ , Woohyun. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually happening down here.”

“Is it just me or is this place completely empty?” Dongwoo inquired loudly, gaining everyone’s attention. Woohyun turned to Dongwoo and saw him with Taemin. He had the worker’s arm in a vice grip. Sunggyu was nowhere to be seen.

“I’d told you already,” Taemin snarled. “When Kibum pressed the alarm in the elevator, then entire building was alerted of what happened. _Everyone_ knows you’re here.”

“That may be so, but there is no way everyone could had evacuated the premises so quickly,” Sunggyu retorted, walking out of one of the doors that occupied the massive room. “This entire place would be in ruins. Everything would look chaotic, if they were suddenly told that INFINITE was in the building and heading in their direction. Look at this place,” Sunggyu gestured to their surroundings. “It’s _too_ quiet. It’s _too_ clean. I’m pretty sure there is not a single soul on this floor; this place is completely deserted. I don’t think anyone has been here for the past couple of hours, maybe longer. ”

Woohyun had to agree. Everything just looked _too_ perfect. It was as if everyone cleaned up any messes and then had simply left.

“What are you saying, Sunggyu?” Hoya asked, walking up to him. Woohyun tailed along.

“They knew, Hoya. They knew we were coming.”

“Who told them?” Hoya exclaimed. Woohyun frowned. If he remembered correctly, not too many people knew exactly what this mission was about.

“Who knows? Probably the same person who told Tao and his boys that we were coming…” Sunggyu crossed his arms, a frown marring his face. “This mission has officially been compromised. If we weren’t already so deep within the BEQP, this mission would have to be called off.”

“Do you think Kris is still in the labs somewhere?” Woohyun asked. He hated the fact that everything that had happened today could have all been for nothing.

“Knowing Kris, yeah,” Sunggyu nodded to Woohyun. “Even if a natural disaster hit South Hallow, Kris wouldn’t leave his lab. His work is too precious to him.”

“But,” Dongwoo started. “If the labs, the fifth floor, and the few other floors that we stopped at when we were on the elevator were deserted, how come we bumped into this guy?” He tilted his head towards Taemin, shaking his arms a bit. Everyone eyed Taemin, waiting for an excuse.

“The above ground hasn’t evacuated. As far as I know, no one knew you guys were even in the building till Kibum pressed the siren. Tsk, even I didn’t know who you guys were till I got a good look at you,” Taemin reluctantly answered. He glared at Sunggyu. Taemin then looked at Dongwoo for a moment before turning to Woohyun. He completely ignored Hoya.

Poor Hoya.

Woohyun felt himself shudder with the glower the worker gave him. The brunet thought Sunggyu’s scowls were life threatening, but Taemin’s were on a whole other level.

“I’ve seen you before.” He stated, still looking at Woohyun. Dongwoo and Hoya looked Woohyun curiously.

The brunet’s brows furrowed. “I _highly_ doubt that.” He has never seen this man in his life. _Plus_ , it was impossible for Taemin to have met him before.

Maybe he knew Suji?

When he was younger, his neighbors had always said he looked just like his mom.

“Nope… I’m pretty sure we’ve met before...” Woohyun felt uncomfortable with everyone looking at him. Sunggyu glanced at him as well. His expression was unreadable. “Sunggyu, doesn’t he look just like–”

“There they are!” Someone yelled, interrupting Taemin. Suddenly a group of security guards rushed into the room, aiming their guns at the resistance members (and Woohyun and Taemin).

“Stay right where you are!” Yelled one of the guards. “ _Slowly_ lower your weapons to the ground _and die_!”

“Shouldn’t it be ‘ _or die_?’” Woohyun frowned.

“You think this is a game, kid?!” The guard took a step forward, aiming his gun directly at Woohyun. The brunet raised his right hand, hoping to convey to them that he was unarmed and harmless. After his first encounter with the police, Woohyun knew better than to provoke them.

And he knew not to poke them either!

“ _I said_ –”

“We heard what you said,” Sunggyu rolled his eyes, sighing. “Listen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. There are only five of you and three of us–”

“But there are five of you–”

“I’m not with these bastards!” Taemin roared with rage. “My name is Lee Taemin! I am the head of the International Development Department! I’m just an innocent hostage!” He tried to walk towards the guards, but Dongwoo still had a firm hold on his arm.

“ _Innocent my ass_ ,” Hoya mumbled.

“These two don’t count!” He gestured to Woohyun and Taemin. “It’s obvious you don’t know who we are. And let’s keep it like that–”

“They’re INFINITE!” Taemin shouted. “And this is the leader: Kim Sunggyu!”

The security guards gasped, looking at one another. They suddenly looked frightened. They took a few steps back, regretting their actions and trying to apprehend the resistance members (and Woohyun and Taemin).

Sunggyu growled and turned to Taemin. He punched the long haired man squarely in the gut.

Woohyun was sure the devil was alive in Sunggyu at that moment.

Dongwoo released Taemin as he staggered back. He doubled over, coughing up some blood. Before Taemin could recover, Sunggyu walked up to him and grabbed him by his hair, lifting him up so he could look at the worker in his eyes.

“I’ve had it just up to here with you, Taemin,” Sunggyu snarled in his face. “One more word out you and I’ll–”

“You’ll what, Sunggyu? Put a bullet in my head, just like what you did to–” Taemin mocked.

“Shut up! Don’t act like you know what happened back then–”

“Obviously you guys have some issues,” one of the guards commented shakily. “We’ll just let you all handle your business, and we’ll be on our way, right, boys?” He looked to his comrades. They all whimpered and nodded. They were ignored, though.

“I don’t condemn killing without a logical reason, but you…” Sunggyu pressed the barrel of his gun to Taemin’s temple.

“Sunggyu, no!” Woohyun exclaimed, grasping Sunggyu’s arm. “He’s our hostage, right? You can't just go and kill him! We may need him or something.”

Woohyun decided he must have wanted a death wish for himself.  He felt Sunggyu flinch under his touch. He grew tense and rigid as Woohyun gripped his arm tighter. And he was lucky the caramel haired man did not turn around and pulled the trigger on him for touching him.

Despite admiring Sunggyu earlier because he had saved him quite few times throughout the day, he hated seeing any kind of violence. If conflict could be avoided, then he would do whatever he could to stop it.

He wasn’t defending Taemin, though. He didn’t like the guy at all. “At least keep him alive till the mission is over and we’re out of this place. If you kill him now, that could make everything worse.”

Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s muscles relaxed as he released Taemin. He pulled his arm out of Woohyun’s grasp and turned to the security guards, who have yet to escape. He couldn’t argue with Woohyun, for he had a point.

“Your _girlfriend’s_ right, Sunggyu. Killing me could be disastrous for you,” Taemin smirked, wiping some of his blood off his lips.

Not even a second later, Sunggyu had punched Taemin again, knocking the latter to the ground. He kicked the man in his stomach before addressing the guards in front of them.

Woohyun frowned at what Taemin called him.

He was no one’s girlfriend!

“As I was saying–”

Before Sunggyu could finish, the five guards lowered their guns to the ground. “Don’t worry Mr. Leader of INFINTE, sir! No need to go through the trouble. We’ll just tie ourselves up.”

“Huh?”

“Sanghyun, you have the ropes? Joon, get the tape!”

“But–”

“If it is alright with you, Mr. Leader of INFINITE, once we tie ourselves up, you’ll need to put the tape over our mouths.”

The security guards then proceeded to tie each other up with some ropes–Woohyun wasn’t sure where it came from–and sat down. One of the guards–Joon–kicked a roll of glittery pink duct tape towards Sunggyu.

The resistance members (and Woohyun and Taemin) watched as the tape slowly rolled across the room and crashed into Sunggyu’s foot.

“I wasn’t going to tie you guys up…” Woohyun heard Sunggyu mutter under his breath. Sunggyu reluctantly picked up the roll of tape and walked up to the guards. He ripped the tape into five pieces and covered the security guards mouths up.

Sunggyu turned back to his comrades (and Taemin) and said, “C’mon let’s go before someone else comes.” He grabbed Taemin by the arm harshly-he was sure to have a bruise on his arm after all of this was over!-and dragged him to the door he walked out of earlier. “I saw some stairs leading down to the second floor.”


	18. Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility: Part Four

Everyonegrew quiet as they made their way deeper into BEQP underground labs. There were five floors in the underground section, so it wouldn’t be long till they made it to Dr. Wu’s lab, which was situated on the fifth floor. Just like on the first floor, every room the group entered thus far was completely empty. Their footsteps and the occasional shutter of Hoya’s camera echoed in the halls.

Woohyun was unimpressed with what he saw in the facility so far. That was because he saw a lot of science fiction and fantasy movies when he was younger, but the labs he saw now looked nothing like how it did in the films.

There was hardly any proof of the detestable crimes everyone claimed the government committed down here. They did come across a lot of computers and monitors, similar to the ones they came across on the first floor, but majority of them had a blank screen. And the ones that weren’t blank or had various formulas and equations listed upon it, were too complicated for Woohyun to even comprehend.

It wasn’t until the group reached the third floor when the silence was truly broken.

“Isn’t it about time you told me exactly why you all are here? Why do you need to see Dr. Wu?” Taemin asked. He was no longer struggling against Sunggyu’s hold, for he had long given up hope of escaping.

They had just entered yet another room that had a ginormous monitor attached to the wall on the other side of the room. The screen was blank, though. From what Woohyun could see, the room was ten times larger than the main rooms on the past floors.

What caught Woohyun’s interest, though, was that the room was filled with several glass cylinders. They were tall and were attached to the ceiling. There were rows and rows of the containers.

“The doctor and I have a lot to discuss,” Sunggyu answered Taemin.

Woohyun walked ahead of the group and approached one of the glass containers. It was filled with a clear liquid that Woohyun could not identify. Woohyun was surprise to _not_ see someone floating about in them.

“And?” Taemin urged.

“And it involves Woohyun,” Sunggyu wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying to the other. He was just as fascinated with their surroundings as Woohyun was. The rapid shuttering of Hoya’s camera could be heard in the background. Sunggyu didn’t see Woohyun wander off.

“…C’mon! You've gotta give me more than that!” Taemin whined.

“Time travel,” was all Sunggyu said. He released Taemin and inspected one of the cylinders.

“Time travel?” Taemin’s brows furrowed as he warily eyed Sunggyu. He then directed his attention to Woohyun, who moved further into the room. “After what happened six years ago, I’m surprised you’d even associate yourself with anything relating to time traveling… And what does that have to do with _him_?” Since Sunggyu was no longer holding him and his comrades weren’t paying attention to him either, Taemin quietly snuck off in the direction Woohyun went.

* * *

 

The group’s chattering became faint as Woohyun wandered further into the room, subconsciously distancing himself from the others.

Woohyun wasn’t sure what the containers were for, but he had an inkling that the victims the scientists experimented on dumped them into the cylinders. Something told him that the substances within the cylindrical containers were some sort of chemical that would be absorbed into the victim’s bodies.

 _Are these used to create super soldiers?_ Woohyun wondered. He pressed his hand against one of the glass containers. The liquid within made the glass warm.

Through the glass and fluid, Woohyun saw a table further ahead. It was sitting directly in front of the large computer monitor on the wall.

As he approached the table, he noticed that various paperwork and files were strewn upon. He picked up one file and skimmed it. Not much made sense, and there were a lot of terms he did not understand. They were probably unique to this time period. The words _Rune_ , _Adamantine_ , and _Mythril_ came up several times in the paper.

Woohyun assumed that the documents were important. He glanced over his shoulder to call Hoya over, but no one was there. The brunet knew he had journeyed far but not far enough to where he could not see or hear Sunggyu and the others anymore.

The brunet shrugged and examined more of the documents. One read:

 

 

> _Project KOT_
> 
> _Subject: Adamantine_
> 
> _Time Period: High Middle Ages/High Medieval Period (preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages)_
> 
> _Century: 12 th Century CE_
> 
> _Destination: Canterbury, Kent, England_
> 
> _Return: N/A_

 

Woohyun pursed his lips in confusion. Nothing made sense. But then again, he was never good in the science and math department.

Or history and art and foreign languages (mainly English).

 _Or_ _physical education_.

How he was able to join the school’s soccer team back in junior year was a mystery to the entire school.

Woohyun placed the document back on the table. As he was reaching for another paper, a hand suddenly pressed over his mouth. The brunet struggled and panicked against the hold, but the newcomer was much stronger. The man’s other arm wrapped around Woohyun, restraining him further.

“Shh,” a voice whispered in his ear. “Make one sound and I’ll cut out that tongue of yours.”

It was Taemin’s.

* * *

 

“What are these used for?” Dongwoo asked, knocking on the glass of one of the containers.

“I’m not too sure,” Sunggyu turned to address him. “These were not here when I was still in the military…” The caramel haired man trailed off. He frowned at his second-in-command, disapproving of the younger as he pressed his face against the glass, making funny faces at Sunggyu.

“Um, guys?” Hoya asked, lowering his camera. “Where’s Taemin?”

“He’s right here,” Sunggyu pointed behind him, not bothering to actually look.

“Um, no, he isn’t,” Hoya shook his head.

Sunggyu’s eyes widen, whipping his head around. Taemin was nowhere in sight. The leader cursed under his breath as he pulled out a gun, readying to cause Taemin harm as soon as he found him.

“You lost Taemin!” Dongwoo wailed. He jumped and spun around, trying to see if he could see Taemin.

“Um guys… Where’s Woohyun?” Hoya asked. Sunggyu groaned, noticing Woohyun’s disappeared as well. He massaged the bridge of his nose, feeling an oncoming headache.

“You lost Woohyun!”

* * *

 

“Stop. Struggling.” Taemin grunted as he _literally_ dragged Woohyun down the stairs.

“Sunggyu!” Woohyun screamed, holding onto the railing. It was very strenuous for Woohyun, though. He could only hold onto the railing with his right arm since his left was injured, and it took all of Woohyun’s strength to hold on with that one arm.

By the way, how many times has Woohyun gotten himself into a bad situation since he arrived in the year 2862 SE yesterday?

About seven, right?

“He can’t hear you! We’re on the fifth floor now! They’re on the third!”

“Just kill me now!” Woohyun hollered.

“I would, but obviously, you’re important to INFINITE and have something to do with time traveling!” He successfully forced Woohyun to release the railing. The brunet whimpered in pain as he slid down the steps, the concrete bruising him during the process.

Taemin, holding onto Woohyun’s right foot, opened the door that led them to the fifth floor. Woohyun did not have anything else to hold onto, so he just allowed Taemin to drag him into the next room.

“Dr. Wu! Are you here?” Taemin eyed their surroundings, looking for the scientist.

The main room of the fifth floor was circular. The ceiling was high and in the shape of a dome, and another huge monitor was attached to the far wall, curving against it. Computers and smaller monitors surrounded the room while dead in the center was a metal lab table and a chair that was bolted to the ground. Above the center of the room, attached to the dome ceiling, was a generator. The only way to access the middle of the room was by walking down some more stairs.

Woohyun whined as his head banged against the steps.

“Dr. Wu! Are you–”

“Why are you yelling?” A voice snapped, walking into the room. He came from one of the various doors that led to the main room.

Woohyun looked to the voice and saw an older version of the man he saw in the newspaper clipping Dongwoo gave him earlier. The man still had short, blond hair, but it now had a few streaks of gray running through it. He looked just as serious as he did in the picture, though, he looked a bit more annoyed at the moment.

“I have a gift for you!” He let go of Woohyun’s foot and forced him to stand up. And then he thrust the brunet into the metal chair. Woohyun didn’t dare move from the spot.

“What is it?” Kris frowned at Woohyun.

“I’m not exactly sure, but Kim Sunggyu was bringing him to you.”

“Ah, yes. Yongguk did say that we would receive a visit from INFINITE today. I was supposed to leave with everyone else, but I was busy.”

Taemin looked at Woohyun, “Tell him.”

“What?” Woohyun’s brows furrowed.

“Tell him why you’re here!”

“I’m not exactly too sure…” It wasn’t all a lie. He may have known what the mission was generally about, but Dongwoo and Sunggyu were supposed to do all the talking. And Woohyun was supposed to be the fake bargaining chip and to stand there and look pretty.

Which wasn’t hard, since Woohyun considered himself to be very pretty.

“Don’t play dumb! Sunggyu said he needed to talk to the Doctor, and it involved you!” He growled.

“Well, yeah, but–”

“Listen,” Kris held up his hand, silencing Woohyun. “You both are wasting my time. I do not see Sunggyu, and if this thing doesn’t know why it’s here, then it is useless to me.”

“What the hell? I’m not a _thing_ or an _it_!” Woohyun snapped, standing up.

Kris raised a brow at the brunet. “Then what are you?”

“I am a person, _a human_ ,” he huffed, stomping his foot. “My name is Nam Woohyun. I’m twenty-one years old, from Seoul, South Korea, born in 1991. I’m associated with INFINITE, and I’ve traveled over five thousand years into the future!”

Kris blinked and gave Woohyun an unreadable expression. The young man slowly sat back down in the chair, feeling uncomfortably with the look.

The scientist leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “Who put you up to this?” He asked, scrutinizing the brunet.

“What?”

“ _Who put you up to this_? How much did they pay you? What are you getting out of this? Don’t lie to me.”

“I-I’m not lying,” Woohyun shook his head.

“Kill him,” Kris ordered, straightening up. He turned his back on the young man and began walking back to the door he had previously exited from. Woohyun’s eyes widen at the command.

“What? _Kill him?_ ” Taemin gawked. “But sir, don’t you want to at least _see_ if he is telling the truth? He’s not a member of INFINITE, so Sunggyu wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of protecting him and bringing him all the way down here to see you unless he was very important.”

Kris glared at Taemin, stopping in his tracks. “No, I’m done with anything related to time travel and such. I worked for years on further developing the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle, the Grandfather Paradox theory, the Fermi Paradox, and Raychaudhuri’s Theorem and Exotic Matter; and all my hard research was destroyed in the blink of an eye because of people like _you_ ,” he pointed an accusing finger towards Taemin, “YG got greedy and sent that ineligible, emotional, military brat into the past and fucked up everything.

“Because of people like _you_ , I lost everything, _everything_ that I dedicated my entire life to! I am through, Mr. Lee; I don’t care what Yongguk wants us to do, I don’t care what _YG_ wants us to do. I am not going to restart Project K.O.T. I am done; now if you’ll excuse me…” He started walking again.

“I’m not lying!” Woohyun repeated. “And I can prove it!”

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long it would take Sunggyu and the others to make their way down to the fifth floor. He wasn’t even sure if they had noticed his and Taemin’s absence. The least Woohyun could do, at the moment, was stall the scientist, not get killed, and try and coax some sort of information out of Kris. The brunet had no clue exactly what kind of information Sunggyu needed from Kris, but as long as he could convince the man he was, in fact, from the past, then he would be helping INFINITE.

“Ask me anything,” Woohyun offered. Kris stopped again, glancing at Woohyun over his shoulder. “Ask me anything about the past!”

“Simply answering a question would not be enough to prove you are from the past. It would not be enough to prove that you have time traveled.” Kris fully turned towards him. “You could have studied up on your history. There are plenty of tomes and databases piecing together our planet’s history.”

“Then ask me something that’s not in the books!” Woohyun was starting to get fed up with the scientist.

“Fine,” Kris frowned. He pulled a small rectangular device out of his lab coat pocket. It resembled a tablet. He tapped the front of the device a few times, and it began to glow. Kris then began to lean back, squatting down a bit in the process, and Woohyun thought the man had lost his balance and was about to fall. As Kris leaned back further, a stool with small wheels on the bottom materialized under him, letting Kris sit on it.

Woohyun’s eyes widened at the stool. With the amount of times Woohyun has fallen down in his life, a chair suddenly appearing for him to land and sit upon would had been nice back in his time.

Taemin leaned against the metal table, crossing his arms. He watched Kris and Woohyun silently.

“What time period are you from?” Kris asked, not looking up from his tablet.

“The 21st century.”

Kris looked up at Woohyun, raising a brow at the brunet. He gave the young man a thoughtful gaze. “Interesting,” he mumbled, before turning his attention back to his tablet. “Just like the other one…”

Woohyun gave a small smile not caring about what the man was whispering about. He wished Sunggyu was here at the moment so that he could finally believe that he was from the past. He may had _almost_ failed history back in freshman year in college, but Woohyun thought he was competent enough to get whatever questions Kris threw at him correct. He leaned back in his uncomfortable metal chair, completely confident.

“Woohyun, right? Okay, let’s get started…” He looked up at Woohyun, and the brunet felt his brows furrowed as he noticed a pair of bright pink glasses covered in studs and rhinestones adorned Kris’s faces.

Where the hell did they come from?

The random pink glasses didn’t deter Woohyun, though! If Woohyun couldn’t prove that he was from the past, Kris was going to make Taemin kill him. The brunet couldn’t let that happen!

Kris held up two fingers, “Emma has two yard sticks. She also has a 12-inch ruler. She laid them end-to-end in a line. How many feet long is the line?”

“…W-What?” Woohyun gaped at Kris.

“Emma has–”

“ _I heard what you said_! What does this have to do with _history_?!” Woohyun felt like he was going to cry. Of all questions to ask, it had to be _math_ related!

“It was nice meeting you, Mr. Nam,” Kris shrugged and stood up. “Mr. Lee, you know what to do.” The stool dematerialized as Kris walked away.

“Wait!” Woohyun called as Taemin grabbed him by the arm, forcing him to stand up.

“Tough luck!” Taemin laughed.

“Wait!” Woohyun repeated, struggling against Taemin’s hold. “It’s seven, right? It’s seven feet!” Woohyun wasn’t too bright when it came to math, but he remembered learning about the Imperial customary measurement system and how to convert it to the metric system.

Kris stopped walking and turned back to Taemin and Woohyun. He shook his head at Taemin, and suddenly, Woohyun was pushed back down into the chair. Woohyun whined at the harsh treatment. He knew he was going to have a bruise on his butt come tomorrow morning.

“In the northern hemisphere, in what month is the autumnal equinox?” Kris asked, tapping away at his tablet.

“September?” Woohyun remembered talking about the fall equinox in Astronomy class.

Kris grunted, mumbling something under his breath. Woohyun couldn’t pick up on it. “Inca civilizations were concentrated on what continent?”

“I don’t know… South America?”

“Who was the longest-reigning British monarch?”

“King… Henry?–Wait! No, it’s Queen Victoria, right?”

Kris looked up at Woohyun and glared. “Hmph, so you’re very knowledgeable about the past. That doesn’t mean you’re actually from it, though. …One last question, Mr. Nam. If you get this right, then I _might_ believe you.”

Woohyun nodded. He was surprised that he even knew the answers to the previous questions. He was extremely confident now, and he knew he would get the final question correct.

Just as long as it wasn’t another math question.

“What,” Kris quickly glanced at his tablet before focusing on Woohyun. “…is… one… times zero?”

 _Are you fucking kidding me?!_ Woohyun thought, his eye twitching in annoyance.

“Seriously?” Woohyun pursed his lips in confusion.

Kris smirked, tucking his tablet back into this lab coat pocket. “I take it you do not know the–”

“I do; it’s zero. Anything times or divided by zero is zero, but I don’t see the point. What does that have to do with proving myself? What does that have to do with _history_?”

Kris suddenly pulled his tablet back out and tapped the screen rapidly. And the next thing Woohyun knew, the metal chair he had been sitting in began to tremble. Woohyun gripped the arms of the chair so that he would not fall off.

“You know, Mr. Nam, not too many people know the answer to that last question. In fact, I can count on one hand the amount of people who know the archaic mathematical ways of our ancestors.”

Before Woohyun could ask what Kris meant, the arms of the chair Woohyun was sitting on began to glow, and, suddenly, natural fiber ropes materialized into thin air and wrapped around the brunet’s wrist, pinning his right arm to the chair. Ropes materialized again and forced his injured arm out of the sling and restrained it to the other arm of the chair. The same thing occurred around his ankles, binding them to the legs of the chair.

Woohyun gasped, panicking. He struggled against the ropes, but he failed. The more he struggled, the tighter the ropes felt. Woohyun squeezed his eyes shut, moaning in pain; having his injured shoulder forcibly moved.

“There is one last thing you need to do to convince me that you’re from the past.” Kris walked up to the metal lab table next to Woohyun, and various medical supplies materialized on the surface. The scientist picked up a scalpel, inspecting it.

“And what may that be?” Woohyun spat, gritting through his teeth.

“You’re already doing it,” Kris chuckled. “Just sit there and let me _experiment_ on you for a little bit.”

Woohyun’s eyes widen, and he tried to scoot away from the scientist, but the chair that he was bounded to was bolted to the ground. The brunet felt his stomach drop when he saw Kris pick up a needle.

“Mr. Lee, please gag him for me,” Kris ordered. Taemin nodded and walked up to Woohyun. He gave the brunet a malicious smile and pulled a dirty, old-looking rag out of his pocket. Taemin grabbed Woohyun by the chin to hold him still. He forced the young man to open his mouth and roughly shoved his rag in. Woohyun gave a muffled coughed and squeezed his eyes shut as the smell and _taste_ of the cloth invaded his senses.

He did _not_ want to know what Taemin had been doing with the rag.

“I’ve administered these  _drug_ into thousands who’ve _claimed_ to have time traveled,” Kris informed. Woohyun opened his eyes and saw Kris stick a needle into a vial that had blue liquid inside, extracting it. “None had survived.” When he had enough, he flicked the needle a couple of times to get rid of the bubbles inside.

Woohyun attempted to ask the scientist what the liquid was supposed to do, but it came out as a string of muffled grunts.

“Don’t worry, though. If you’re really from the past, this won’t kill you. You may feel a bit _weird_ , but you won’t die.”

“What is it?” Taemin asked. Woohyun nodded his head rapidly, wanting to know the same thing.

The same stool that Kris had been sitting on earlier materialized in front of Woohyun, letting Kris sit upon it again.

“As the centuries have gone by, human’s immune systems have changed and evolved. Diseases that were once an extreme threat to our race are no longer dangerous, for we have developed a natural immunity against them over the centuries. However, certain disease our ancestors were once immune to no longer exist within our biological structures, like small pox and rinderpest. Every child, regardless of their background and what sector they are originally from, is given a vaccination at birth. This vaccination is used to stimulate the productions of antibodies and provide immunity against several diseases we are not naturally immune to.

“I’ll be giving Mr. Nam two injections. The liquid in this needle contains a pathogen to an infection that we are immune, but he should not be, if he was telling the truth. The second contains an illness that our ancestors were originally immune to, but now we no longer are.”

“Will it kill him?” Taemin questioned.

“If he does not die in the next ten minutes, then that is proof enough that he is not from our time.”

“What diseases are in the needles?”

“I don’t know; I just randomly picked them. Even if he is not affected by the second injection, if the first one contains a lethal dose of something fatal, like malaria, then this would have all been for nothing. I guess if he dies, I can still experiment on his body before it begins to decompose,” Kris shrugged.

Woohyun whimpered at the explanation and how nonchalant Kris was about the situation. The brunet was starting to greatly regret going on this mission. Woohyun swallowed the huge lump in his throat, preparing himself for the worst. If he dies with the second injection Kris gives him, he will haunt Kim Sunggyu for the rest of his life!

* * *

 

“There, now we're done with the injections.”

Kris’s voice pulled Woohyun out of his dramatic retelling of what had been going on for the past couple of hours.


	19. Bio-Engineering Quantum Paradox Facility: Part Five

Woohyunblinked a couple of times, expecting to feel something, _anything_. With everything Kris had been saying about diseases and a human’s immune system, he was almost expecting to suddenly be in pain–the current discomfort in his injured arm did not count. Even the injection itself didn’t hurt.

Kris frowned as he eyed Woohyun. “No reaction…”

“Does that mean…?” Taemin trailed off, not finishing his question. He eyed Woohyun with confusion.

Kris stood up, stepping away from Woohyun. “We wait. If he’s not dead or in the process of dying within the next ten minutes, then, well, he’s obviously not from _here_.”

Woohyun wondered what kind of disease Kris gave him.

He hoped it wasn’t prostate cancer.

That would really put a damper on his sex life.

“Mr. Lee, run up to the fourth floor and acquire Yixing’s pickled plum from the refrigerator in his office. I’m very hungry.” Taemin frowned, reluctantly following the order.

_What the fuck is a pickled plum?!_ Woohyun thought. The image of a plum doused in pickle juice conjured up in his mind.

“While he is gone, I’m going to take a sample of your blood.” He sat back down on his stool, and picked up another needle off of the metal table. “How old are you, Mr. Nam?” He pulled the rag out of Woohyun’s mouth.

“Twenty-one.” Woohyun didn’t see the harm in telling him.

“So young…” The brunet flinched in pain as Kris drew blood from him. He bit his lips, trying to stop a moan of pain from erupting from him. “Why are you here, Mr. Nam?”

“You can just call me Woohyun,” the brunet offered. Being called _Mr. Nam_ reminded him of his dead father, and thinking about his dead father made him think about his dead mother.

Kris took the needle with Woohyun’s blood in it and pulled out his tablet, tapping it a couple of times. The screen of the tablet began to glow, and then Kris injected the needle into the side of the tablet. Woohyun raised a brow, wondering exactly where the blood was going.

“Why are you here, Woohyun? Why did Sunggyu want to bring you to me?” Kris repeated, not bothering to look up at the brunet.

“INFINITE wants to know why the BEQP has been kidnapping the citizens of South Hallow, and why they are being experimented on,” Woohyun explained, remembering the long, intense explanation Dongwoo gave him about INFINITE’s existence, one of the goals for this mission, and about how evil YG and his party was. “They want to expose you for the heinous crimes you’ve committed down here.” While he was sitting here, waiting for whatever disease he was infected with to affect him _and_ for Sunggyu to finally rescue him, he might as well try and get some information out of the scientist.

“Heinous crimes, huh? And with what proof? Long before Sunggyu and that motley crew of his came here, Yongguk had us clean the labs up and make sure there was no proof of the _heinous crimes_ that went on down here.”

Woohyun frowned, thinking about what Sunggyu had said earlier.

They knew INFINITE was coming.

Someone had leaked to the heads of the BEQP that INFINITE was coming.

“Who?” Woohyun asked. “Who told you we were coming?”

“I’m still waiting for you to answer my first question,” Kris lowered his tablet to his lap, giving his attention to Woohyun. “ _Why_ are you here?”

“I already–”

“You’ve told me why _INFINITE_ is here, but you have not told me why _you’re_ here.”

“I-I…” Woohyun hesitated. He didn’t want to give away too much about himself. From what everyone has been telling him since he had arrived in South Hallow, don’t trust anyone who worked for YG and the BEQP. Always keep your guard up. Although, to Woohyun, the story of how he traveled to South Hallow may not seem that important to Sunggyu and the others or even to himself, telling someone, like Kris, could be dangerous. The man was one of the head scientists of the facility, who specialized in the subject of time travel. Going into a detailed explanations about anything to the scientist could be extremely detrimental.

“Not going to tell me?” Kris gave a small smile, as if he expected Woohyun to not answer.

Woohyun kept his mouth shut. He shifted in his seat, and the dull pain in his left shoulder suddenly intensified. The brunet took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He tried his best to ignore it.

_Where was Sunggyu?_ Woohyun thought, opening his eyes. He avoided Kris’s gaze and looked towards the door to the stairwell that he and Taemin had come through earlier. Why was it taking Sunggyu and the others so long to get here? The brunet hoped that nothing terrible had happened to them during his absence.

Woohyun heard Kris mutter something under his breath, and he saw that the scientist had directed his attention back to his tablet. “Well, it’s been over ten minutes, and you’re still alive. Feel anything?”

“No,” Woohyun answered. Besides the pain in his arm, he felt generally fine. Well, okay, that wasn’t completely true. He did feel a dull and pulsating throb in his head. It wasn’t as bad as it was before, when he passed out. It was more so similar to the mild throbbing in his head he got when he was still in his own time, when he had picked up and examined the infinity necklace on the night of the shooting star.

“Hm, your temperature is a bit higher than the norm. It’s probably nothing, though…”

The screen of Kris’s tablet glowed again, and Woohyun gasped, his eyes widening as a miniature holographic image of Woohyun appeared, suddenly, floating above the tablet. The image was extremely detailed; every visible injury Woohyun acquired today could be seen on the holographic Woohyun.

Kris poked Hologram-Woohyun’s face, and a long list appeared. The list consisted of information about Woohyun. Some of which he never told anybody.

Like his undying love for _Hobbits_.

Kris began to read from the list. “Nam Woohyun. February eighth, 1991 CE. Seoul, South Korea. Parents are deceased. Is not aware of brother's current location. No other living relatives from your mother’s side of the family. Father, Nam Hyunjun, died of a brain aneurysm. Mother, Bae Suji, died of multiorgan dysfunction caused by Sepsis. She was born in 2842 SE…” Kris trailed off, sharply looking at Woohyun. Said man swallowed thickly, not paying much attention to the look Kris gave him.

Somewhere in South Hallow, at this moment, was a young Bae Suji, running around. His mother wasn’t lying about her time traveling. His mother wasn’t lying about being from the future.

Where was she? What was she doing?

“Now that’s a noteworthy fact. Blood and DNA don’t lie. You are from the past while your mother is from this time.” Kris exited out of the list and poked Hologram-Woohyun in the chest.

Several small pictures of men and woman appeared. Above the pictures, the words ‘ _Living and Nonliving relatives of Nam Woohyun_ ’ could be read. A red ‘X’ and the word deceased embellished majority of the pictures. The ones that appeared to still be alive, Woohyun did not recognize. But, then again, Woohyun couldn’t recall ever meeting any of his relatives on his father’s side. And it was impossible for him to have met anyone related to Suji.

“Bae Suji… Bae… Suji…” Kris mumbled over and over again as he scanned through the faces and names.  His fingers swiftly swiped through the list before stopping for a brief moment on the face of a man Woohyun had not seen in a long time. There was a red ‘X’ over his face and the word _deceased_ under it.

Woohyun didn’t remember much about his father since he died when he was still a child. The picture frames that decorated the shelves in his house were the only memories he had of his father.

Kris moved on to the next face, and Suji appeared. She looked much younger in her picture than of what Woohyun remembered. There was a red ‘X’ and _deceased_ over her face as well, but under her picture, it said that she was currently alive in the year 2862 SE.

“How interesting,” Kris said aloud. “She traveled well over 5,000 years into the past, but it doesn’t say how it happened.” Kris swiped to the next profile, and for a brief moment before Kris moved on to the next one, Woohyun saw his brother’s face, and it became very hard for the brunet to breathe.

His brother was dead.

Kris stilled for a moment before scrolling back to Boohyun’s face. A look of revelation etched on his visage; his eyes widened.

Woohyun couldn’t control the sob that erupted from him as the word _deceased_ rang in his head. “H-How?” He choked. It felt like the wind was knocked out of him.

How did Boohyun die? _When_ did Boohyun die?

Woohyun hung his head low as tears trickled down his cheeks. Sobs wracked through his fragile frame, rising in pitch as the information truly sunk in. His beloved older brother was dead.

He had always wondered what exactly happened to Boohyun. He came to a lot of conclusions and theories ever since his disappearance five years ago. He always had a slight inkling that Boohyun might have been dead, but seeing the face of the man who raised him more than his own mother with the word _deceased_ under it hit him hard.

Woohyun’s vision was clouded with tears as he continued to mourn over his brother. He closed his eyes, and his mind was flooded with the now bittersweet memories he had of Boohyun.

“Woohyun!” A voice called, but it did not completely register in the brunet's mind. His brother’s apparent death was too much for him at the moment.

Woohyun then felt a hand on his wet cheek, forcing him to look up. His vision was blurred, but he saw Hoya standing in front of him, his face masked with of concern. Dongwoo was behind, mirroring the same expression as Hoya’s.

Sunggyu’s voice gained Woohyun’s attention. Through his tears, the brunet saw Sunggyu grab Kris by the collar of his lab coat and slammed him into the metal table.

“What did you do to him?” Sunggyu demanded, tightening his grip on the collar of the scientist’s lab coat.

“Nothing really,” Kris chuckled as if he was used to this kind of behavior from Sunggyu. “All I did was inject a few diseases into him–don’t give me that look! They weren’t deadly, and he was immune to one of them.”

“That doesn’t explain…” Sunggyu didn’t finish, but everyone understood him. He wanted to know why Woohyun was in tears.

Kris rolled his eyes like it was no big deal. “He just found out that his brother, whom he hadn’t seen in five years, is dead.”

Woohyun took a shaky breath, trying his best to hold in another sob. He felt more tears trickle down his face.

The moment Sunggyu heard Woohyun start crying again, he raised his fist, intending to cause Kris more harm, but before he could do anything, Kris held his hands up in defense.  “Before you go and _attempt_ to kill me, you might want to listen to what I have say.”

Sunggyu frowned at older man, still pinning him to the table.

“If you want to hear what I’m going to say, I will need you to release me.”

The caramel haired man grunted and reluctantly released the blond scientist. Sunggyu took a few steps back and crossed his arms, waiting for Kris to explain. Kris dusted off his coat, smoothing out the creases.

“Woohyun has already informed me somewhat of why you've brought him here,” Kris grabbed his tablet and tapped at the screen for a moment. “I’ll give you everything you want–all of YG and the BEQP’s darkest secrets– in exchange for him.” He pointed to the trembling Woohyun. “Everything you want is all on here,” he waved the tablet.

“Absolutely not,” Sunggyu growled. “You’ve already done enough. You can’t have him.”

“I’ve _hardly_ done enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten this excited over a new project. This boy had _time traveled_. And what’s even greater is that his _mother_ had time traveled as well. Technically, she’s dead, but her past self is still alive, in this time! I must get my hands on her; I must have him as well.”

“No,” Woohyun wailed. “Don’t you dare touch her. Leave my mother alone!” His body shook with grief and rage. On the day Suji died, he remembered her story about being kidnapped and experimented on. He remembered her saying that they were trying to create a super solder, and she was one of their victims. They experimented on her and injected various drugs into her system, much worse than what Woohyun just went through.

“How about you hand that over to us, and I won’t kill you,” Sunggyu suggested in a threatening tone.

“Please, Sunggyu. I know you. You won’t kill me,” Kris crossed his arms, unimpressed.

Sunggyu scoffed and pulled a gun out. He switched the safety off and aimed it at Kris.

“That doesn’t intimidate–”

Sunggyu pulled the trigger, shooting Kris in the shoulder. The blond scientist screamed in pain. The force of the bullet pushed him to the ground. He clasped his hand over his newly-made wound, wailing. Woohyun jumped in his seat, startled by the gunshot. The brunet hated violence of any kind, but seeing Kris on the ground, bleeding profusely from the shoulder... He was happy to see the man in pain. Kris could be the same man who eventually experimented on his mother, and for the first time in his life, he _wished_ that someone would die.

_And that someone was Kris._

“You’re lucky I don’t kill without a reason. However, you _do_ deserve to die with all the shit you’ve done in the past,” Sunggyu spat.

“You little– _shit_ –” Kris could barely say anything as he attempted to stand back up, gripping his bleeding shoulder tightly.

“Now let’s try this again,” Sunggyu said, reloading his pistol. “Hand over the tablet, and I won’t kill you.”

Kris hesitated for a moment before reaching for the tablet that fell out of his hands when he was shot. He groaned in pain as he picked it up. The blood on his hands smeared against the device as he reluctantly handed it over to Sunggyu. He then quickly clutched his shoulder, still trying to stop the bleeding.

Sunggyu eyed the tablet in his hand before handing it over to Dongwoo. “Check its contents; make sure it’s what we need.”

Woohyun closed his eyes once again, lowering his head and took a shaky breath, attempting to calm himself down. He was no longer sobbing, but the tears kept coming, and he was still trembling slightly.

“Yeah, this is good. This is more than what we needed,” Woohyun heard Dongwoo announce.

“Then we’re done here.”

Woohyun heard some quick shuffling, and he thought he heard Kris grunt something, but he couldn’t make it out. Suddenly, Woohyun heard the sound of the metal hitting the ground and something that sounded like a body collapsing. And then everything grew quiet. But he didn’t dare open his eyes and look.

He just wanted to go home.

After what felt like years, Woohyun felt a hand on his wrist, and he finally glanced up. Sunggyu was kneeling in front of him, cutting the ropes that bounded him to the chair. The caramel haired leader was gentle and careful when he unbounded Woohyun’s injured arm.

Sunggyu gave a small reassuring smile as he completely freed Woohyun. He then helped him get his injured arm back into his sling.

“Did he hurt you?” Sunggyu asked quietly. He had already asked Kris the same thing, but he needed to make sure. He needed to hear it from Woohyun. Woohyun’s face was flushed with grief, and Sunggyu _needed_ to know if Woohyun was alright.

Woohyun saw Kris on the ground unconcious, still bleeding from shoulder. The metal table was flipped on its side, and all of Kris's supplies littered the floor.The brunet looked at Sunggyu and  shook his head, lying. “I’m fine,” he rasped. His voice was hoarse, and tears were still streaming down his face. Woohyun was nowhere near fine, not after everything that had happened today.

“We’re here now, and you’re safe. Everything will be okay,” Sunggyu reassured. The brunet shook his head.

Woohyun wasn’t sure if everything was going to be okay.

“Where’s Taemin?” Woohyun asked quietly, switching the subject. He was almost expecting the long haired man to pop out of nowhere and fight them again.

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Dongwoo said, not explaining further. Woohyun understood, though.

Taemin was dead.

Woohyun slowly stood up; his legs felt like jelly. He didn’t want to know the details of their encounter with Taemin.

Sunggyu eyed the younger man, frowning. He needed to get Woohyun out of this place before anything worse could happen. The caramel haired man glanced at his comrades, and they both looked just as concerned for Woohyun as he was. Sunggyu didn’t know much about him, and a part of him still didn’t believe his story, but seeing Woohyun look so fragile and hurt… It was because of Kris and the BEQP and YG, and pain and suffering similar to that of what Woohyun had just gone through was why INFINITE existed.

INFINITE's job was to stop the government from its people suffer.

“We’re pretty much done with this mission now. We got what we came down here for. Let’s check the rest of this floor for any more information and then get the hell out of here,” Sunggyu ordered. He needed to get his people and Woohyun out of here and back into the safety of their headquarters. Everyone nodded.

“I’ll start planting the explosives,” Dongwoo informed. Woohyun raised a brow.

“We’re blowing the labs up?” He asked. His voice was still hoarse.

Dongwoo nodded, “The explosives are not enough to destroy the entire building, but it’s enough to ensue chaos and distract YG and his party for some time while we leak all of their information to the press.”

“Alright, let’s hurry up and get this over with.” Sunggyu said. Everyone nodded again. Woohyun eyed the massive room and the various doors, wondering which one he should inspect first.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu called as Hoya and Dongwoo went ahead and further explored the lab. “Stay close, okay? I don’t want anything else to happen to you.”

Woohyun nodded, giving the rebel leader a small smile. He then walked away, heading in the general direction the other two members of Infinite went.

The brunet watched the rest of INFINITE explore the rooms for a moment before choosing a random room to inspect himself. The moment he walked in the room, he closed the door and leaned against it. He took a deep, shaky breath, and yet another sob escaped from him. It was bad enough that his mother died a week ago, but now he just found out his brother was dead as well. Woohyun wondered for how long, though.

A small beeping noise caught Woohyun's attention. It was coming from the large monitor in the back of the small room. Wiping his tears away, Woohyun walked further into the small and compact room. Not much was going on. It was filled with several bookshelves and one large monitor.

The young man eyed the spines of the books that were stacked on the shelves. Not a lot made sense, and just like the papers he came across earlier, some of it he could not read. Once this was all over and if he was still in this time period, he would ask Sungjong to give him a brief history lesson. Woohyun was very curious about what has changed over the centuries.

The light from the large monitor in the room flashed, beeping again and caught Woohyun’s attention for a second time, and he approached the monitor that was mounted onto the wall. The images he saw earlier– the rotating skeletal body that morphed into a figure with skin every few seconds–were on this screen as well. The brunet leaned closer to the monitor, attempting to get a better look at the figure.

It was bothering Woohyun that he couldn’t figure out who the person was. He knew he had seen him before. And he knew it had been recent. The man on the screen had short, black hair, and his bangs were swept to the side.

Woohyun noticed that under the body was a small list of physical traits. The man’s name was in a written language he could not identify and some of the other qualities were too small to read. But what he was able to make out was his age–twenty-one.

“Wow, he’s young,” the brunet unconsciously said aloud. He was the same age as Woohyun.

As his eyes scanned through the list–there were a few more things he was able to make out: weight, height, birthday–he saw that the young man’s name was listed again. And this time he was able to read it. He gasped as the name on the screen registered in his head.

He knew why the figure on the screen looked familiar. How could he forget someone who caused so much harm in a couple of hours, someone who had almost killed him and Sunggyu?

Woohyun felt sick to his stomach, remembering how he had killed him. He took a step back from the monitor.

His back collided into _something_.

“Super soldier: the concept of a fighter being capable of operating beyond normal human limits or abilities. The BEQP has been working on this theory for a long time but without much success. Well, not much success till I came.”

Or _someone_.

Woohyun sucked in a breath as he turned around. A malevolent smirk greeted him. The same tall, young man with the short black hair that was rotating on the computer screen stood directly in front of the brunet.

Tao.


	20. Keyboards Can be Dangerous

"H-How?"That was the only thing Woohyun could utter. He took a step back, and he collided into the computer monitor. He reached blindly for something behind him that he could use to defend himself. His hand was palpitating with terror. He wished that Hoya had given him his gun back.

“You honestly thought that a metal pipe would kill me?” Tao gave Woohyun a murderous smile, chuckling a bit. The brunet swallowed thickly; he felt his heart beat against his chest rapidly. He was sure Tao could hear it.

“B-But…” Woohyun couldn’t say anymore. The man he thought he had killed was standing right in front of him completely unharmed. There was not a single bruise on his face. It was as if he and the others had not met and fought Tao.

Woohyun jumped slightly as his hand crashed into something. He wasn’t sure what it felt like, but he was able to easily grasp it. He lifted it a bit to make sure it wasn’t heavy and to not gain Tao’s attention. His whole hand enclosed on the object. He could tell that some wires were attached to it. Hopefully, whatever he was grabbing would be good enough to defend him.

“I would like to thank you, though. If you hadn’t ‘ _killed_ ’ me, I wouldn’t have known the limits and capabilities of the drugs Dr. Wu and Dr. Lu gave me,” he explained. “I should thank Sunggyu as well. Our fight was the first time I had truly used my strength since the tests had started.” He clenched and unclenched his hands, admiring them.

They looked boring and normal to Woohyun, though.

Tao slowly looked up to Woohyun. “And you’ll be the second person I’ll test my skills on.”

The moment the young mercenary took a step towards Woohyun, the brunet pulled his arm from behind him and swung his newfound weapon at Tao. However, the object was much lighter than what Woohyun thought, and it flew out of his hand towards Tao. Said man saw the move coming and held up his arms to block the attack. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, but all he felt was a little tap.

Woohyun’s stomach dropped, realizing that the object he had used to defend himself from Tao was just a small wired computer mouse.

Both Tao and Woohyun watched the mouse as it fell to the ground and rolled to the side. Then they both slowly looked up at one another. The brunet gulped, afraid to make a sound, afraid to move even the slightest. That _mouse_ was the only weapon he had, and, obviously, it had done nothing for him.

“Well… I give you an ‘ _A_ ’ for effort,” Tao offered.

Woohyun’s brows furrowed. “I honestly thought it was something that would actually do some kind of damage...”

“Next time go for the keyboard. That might disorient me a little.”

“I don’t think this particular computer had one. I think it’s a touchscreen.”

Tao frowned. “I hate touchscreen computers.”

“Really? I think they’re quite convenient.”

“I suppose. I guess I’m just old school…” Tao shrugged.

They both grew quiet as the conversation died. Throwing the mouse at Tao seemed to had made the situation a bit awkward. Woohyun leaned back against the table behind him, not knowing what else to do. The brunet was surprised that Tao didn’t try to shoot him for throwing the mouse. It actually had seemed that Tao had forgotten that he was intent on killing the young time traveler.

Woohyun wanted to say something, but he didn’t want to _remind_ Tao that he was supposed to cause him harm.

“So… How’s the arm?” Tao asked suddenly, pointing to Woohyun’s injured shoulder.

Woohyun’s brows furrowed. The question threw him off. “It’s… been better,” he glanced at his shoulder.

“Exactly how did you injure it? I remember you said you were attacked by jellyfish and lions, but that was a lie, right?” Tao crossed his arms.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. You had a rocket launcher, and I was scared shitless that you were going to blow us up.”

“Bringing that launcher wasn’t such a good idea, huh?” That rocket launcher caused more harm to both parties than it was originally intended for.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“So…?” Tao was referring to Woohyun’s shoulder again.

“It happened when you tried to blow our car up… with that rocket launcher…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

“Sorry?”

“It’s okay, I guess…” Woohyun was confused by his own sentence. How long were they going to have this meaningless little conversation before Tao killed him?

“What was your name again? I never caught it.”

“It’s Woohyun.”

“I’m Tao.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“How have you been since out last encounter?” Tao had said it like they had met several times in the past.

“Not so good.” Woohyun wasn’t lying.

“Oh yeah?” Tao raised a brow in curiosity.

“I passed out for a couple of hours because of a concussion I developed _because_ you blew up our car.”

“Sorry?”

“I fell out of an elevator.”

“How–?”

“I was called Sunggyu’s girlfriend.”

“…You’re not?”

“I was dragged down several flights of stairs by Lee Taemin. You know him?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Wu Yi fan injected some drugs into me.”

“Ahh, so you’ve met Kris?”

“The man didn’t know what drug he gave me, so there’s a good chance I might have prostate cancer…”

“Or the chicken pox.”

“I also just found out that my mom was telling the truth about her time traveling and a younger version of herself is out there, somewhere, in the world, running around. Her name is Bae Suji. Do you know her?”

“No–”

“And I just found out that my estranged brother has been dead for the past six years, and I don’t even know how he died.”

“…Wow you’ve really been through a lot.”

Woohyun sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. He felt another oncoming throb in his head. This time it felt like the back of his head was pulsating. It was also similar to ache he got right before he passed out back in the tunnels. “Tell me about it…”

Before the conversation could continue, Sunggyu walked into the room. “Woohyun, did you find… anything…?” He trailed off when he realized that Woohyun was not alone. His eyes widened when he recognized the person.

Tao slowly turned around. A vengeful smile formed as he saw INFINITE’s leader standing in the doorway. “Hello, Sunggyu. I was wondering when you would appear.” Several emotions played on Sunggyu’s face: astonishment, disbelief, confusion, panic, trepidation, fear, and… hunger?

Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun for a brief second to make sure the brunet was alright before eyeing Tao again. “How?” The sound of the safety of Sunggyu’s gun clicking off rang throughout the room.

“I already went through this with Woohyun,” he rolled his eyes.

“Well, please enlighten me.” He took a step into the room. Tao took a step back. Woohyun pressed himself further into the table behind. If the psychotic mercenary and sociopathic rebel leader decided to _fight_ in this tiny room, then they were all going to get seriously hurt.

When this was all over, and if Woohyun was still alive and kicking, he was going to have a long conversation with the deities from above. He was never that much of a believer, but after today, he was going to start praying and hoping that he will live through all of the mess that is sure to come.

“Long story short, Sunggyu, I’m a genetically enhanced _murderer_.” He pulled out his own gun, but he didn’t aim it at Sunggyu; instead he aimed it at Woohyun, who was currently shimmying against the bookshelves to avoid getting pulled into the fight.

Maybe it was best if Woohyun started praying now to the various gods that resided in the heavens above.

Sunggyu quickly aimed his weapon at Tao; his finger hovered over the trigger. “A super soldier, huh? Kris finally created something that didn’t blow up in his face and try to kill him.”

“Yes, and my first victim is Woohyun,” Tao clicked the safety off. Woohyun flinched at the sound.

“Technically, your comrade, Chen, was your first victim,” Sunggyu reminded.

“That wasn’t my fault. If Chen hadn’t gotten in the way, then it wouldn’t had been necessary to eliminate him.”

Woohyun frowned. A response was already tumbling out of his mouth before his brain could catch up. “Gotten in the way? That is utter bullshit.” He felt sick to his stomach just looking at the mercenary, the fact that he had the nerve to say such a thing. It is _never_ necessary to kill someone.

He continued, “I’m pretty sure as soon as you guys were done with your heartfelt confessions and apologizes, he would had gone back to trying to _kill_ us. He was on your side; he was _your_ partner! You killed him because ‘ _he got in the way?_ ’ Yeah, right. I’m sure you just wanted to be the only one crowned with the title of capturing the leader of INFINITE and killing his comrades.” The words just kept stumbling out; he couldn’t stop. When Woohyun was gravely upset, he had a habit of ranting, explaining, and describing about how incorrigible someone was.  

It wasn’t very often that Woohyun told someone off, though. The brunet tried his very best to be kind to everyone around him and to keep his _very_ judgmental views and comments to himself. It wasn’t till he met Sunggyu and the rest of INFINITE that the thin line between ‘ _sweet and gentle Woohyun_ ’ and ‘ _getting tired of everyone’s shit Woohyun_ ’ began to tear.

He blamed Mr. Shooting Star.

“Listen here, you little shit–”He slapped his hand over his mouth before he could say anymore.

Tao gaped at Woohyun; he was appalled by Woohyun’s words. “Y-You… W-What–? W-Who do you think you are?” He sputtered. The gun in his hand trembled with indignation. “Y-You don’t know me! I have a _right_ to kill. I'm a mercenary. _It is my_ _job to kill._ ”

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes at Woohyun, quite surprised about his outburst. He didn’t comment about it, though. There were more pressing matters at the moment, like a _genetically enhanced murderer_ , whose skin flushed red with anger.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Tao,” Sunggyu said, trying to get the mercenary’s attention again. As long as his attention wasn’t on Woohyun’s, the brunet would be safe for the meantime. “No one has the right to kill. We cannot judge who deserves to live and who deserves to die, no matter how much wrong they commit.”

Tao turned back to Sunggyu. He aimed his gun at the caramel haired man with steadiness. His skin was still as red as a tomato. “Those are big words coming from the mighty leader of INFINITE, and yet you’re waiting for the opportune moment to end my life.”

“Ah, well, there are exceptions.”

Woohyun lowered his hand, letting out a breath he had been holding. For a moment there, he thought his mouth was going to get him killed. While Tao was being distracted by Sunggyu again, Woohyun took this moment to find anything around him that he could use to defend himself. Hopefully, he would find something much bigger and threatening than a computer mouse. There wasn’t much in the room, though. Or at least nothing that could knock the mercenary out cold.

“Once I’m done with you, then I’ll kill him,” Tao gestured to Woohyun. “Or maybe I should tie you up and keep you alive as I slowly torture him in front of you.”

Woohyun shuddered in fear at the thought of Tao torturing him. They needed to get the hell out of the BEQP facility before the situation could get any worse. But they’re going to have to get past Tao first. Ignoring the ongoing conversation between Sunggyu and Tao, Woohyun turned around and eyed the bookshelf he was just leaning against. He was hoping to come across a large book that he could easily grasp and knock Tao out with, but most of them were small and half the size of an encyclopedia.

The brunet mentally groaned, hating the fact that this day has been nothing but terrible. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Sunggyu and Tao still throwing insults and threats at each other. Why do people stall and have such long conversations before fighting and attempting to kill each other?

Woohyun eyed the bookshelf again, and something he didn’t notice before on the bottom shelf caught his attention. It was tucked in between two moderately sized books. It was jutting out of the shelf, and Woohyun wondered how he didn’t see that before. The object was large, white and wrapped in wires. The young man crouched down to get a better look, and he felt a smirk form on his face when he realized what it was.

“So it _wasn’t_ just a touchscreen computer…” Woohyun mumbled to himself, pulling the object off the shelf.

“How long are we going to do this?” Sunggyu asked, sighing. His arms were beginning to ache from holding them up and aiming his gun at Tao for the past five minutes. Sunggyu was tired and exhausted, and he could feel his body slowly shut down after all the crap that they’d been through today.

And he was tired of Woohyun constantly getting himself into trouble.

 It was beginning to get old.

If they made it out of the facility alive, he was going to give Woohyun a couple of lessons in combat and self-defense so that he didn’t have to completely worry and protect the younger if he continued to bring him on missions in the future. Even if that didn’t happen, it wouldn’t hurt the brunet to actually learn how to defend himself.

“What do you mean ‘ _How long are we going to do this?_ ’ It’s always important to talk to the enemy about one’s goals and plans for the future, and why they do what they do before killing them.” Tao rolled his eyes as if Sunggyu’s question was stupid. “ _Everyone_ does it, Sunggyu.”

The rebel leader’s face scrunched up into confusion, wondering where Tao learned that shit from.  Sunggyu was going to give the mercenary a nasty retort for that, but he noticed Woohyun holding something, readying to strike Tao.

“Since you’re so impatient, Sunggyu,” Tao continued, oblivious to what Woohyun was doing behind him. “I will shorten my speech for you. Ahem...  _Even as a child, I_ –”

Woohyun slammed a keyboard, the object he saw on the shelf, into the side of Tao’s face with all the strength he could muster using one hand. Tao fell to the ground with a loud thud. Woohyun stood over him, and strike Tao with the keyboard a couple of more times till he was sure the man was unconscious. Woohyun had hit Tao so hard that the buttons from the keyboard were imprinted on his face.

“Thank you for telling me to use a keyboard next time, you asshole,” Woohyun spat, breathing harshly. He kicked Tao in the head for good measure and straightened up. Woohyun leaned back against the bookshelf, closing his eyes and attempting to catch his breath. Attacking Tao seemed to had taken a lot out of him because he was completely out of breath.

Once Woohyun caught his breath, he opened his eyes and saw Sunggyu gaping at him. “ _What the hell was that_?” The caramel haired man gestured to the unconscious Tao on the ground and to the keyboard in Woohyun’s hand. The brunet flushed a terrible shade of shame and stammered several words that weren't necessarily in a language that any human spoke. Sunggyu narrowed his eyes at the younger; obviously, when push comes to shove, Woohyun knew how to defend himself.

“Forget it,” Sunggyu shook his head. They didn’t have time to talk about Woohyun’s violent moment. “Let’s get out of here before he wakes up.” He stepped aside to let Woohyun leave the room first. Said young man bit his lip, still embarrassed that he lost control, but he scurried out of the room before Sunggyu could say anymore.

Before leaving the room himself, Sunggyu eyed Tao on the floor for a moment.

That was too easy.

Too simple.

Sunggyu knew the kind of guy Tao was–vicious, evil, brutal, merciless– and no matter how stupid and gullible they appeared to be, they never once lowered their guard. Sunggyu didn’t like the fact that Woohyun was able to knock him out so easily and with a keyboard, no less. His brows furrowed in concentration.

Something was off.


	21. Yixing: Enlightenment From an Unlikely Source

"Sunggyu?" 

Said man turned around and saw Woohyun standing in the doorway. Dongwoo and Hoya were standing behind him, peering into the room. Dongwoo was holding a box filled to the brim with files and folders. Hoya, on the other hand, had seemed to had encounter yet _another_ BEQP facility scientist and was gripping the guy tightly by the arm.

The man had short, brown hair that was matted with blood and some other sort of substance. The glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose were crooked and had several cracks within the right lens. He was gaping at the unconscious Tao on the floor.

“Is that Tao?” Hoya asked. Sunggyu could hear the fear in his voice. “Isn’t he supposed to be _dead_?”

“Unfortunately, he’s not,” Sunggyu sighed, still eyeing the scientist in Hoya’s clutches. “We’ll discuss more about him later. Let’s just go.”

“Shouldn’t we try and kill him now then?”

“I don’t care. I just want to go back home,” Sunggyu whined. Both Dongwoo and Hoya gasped at that.

Sunggyu _never whined._

The rebel leader rolled his eyes at his comrades and gestured to the boxes (and the scientist) in their arms, silently asking them what they were for.

“So what’s up with _this_?” Sunggyu pointed to the scientist, who, by the way, wasn’t resisting Hoya at all.

“Oh yeah! Look at what I found in a random room,” Hoya exclaimed, as if he forgot the man was even there. “Sunggyu, meet Dr. Zhang Yixing; sometimes, he goes by the name of Lay. Doctor, meet Kim Sunggyu.”

“Hi. I’ve heard a lot about you from my bosses,” Yixing gave a small wave.

“Hi,” Sunggyu nodded.

The conversation did not go past that.

“We have some good and bad news, Sunggyu,” Dongwoo informed after a brief moment of silence between the two men. They all shuffled into the hallway. He raised the heavy box he was holding. “The good news, I stumbled upon a room filled with many documents, and, as you can see, we found loads of information that we could use. I grabbed as much as I could, and Hoya took several shots of some of the papers we couldn't carry.”

Woohyun didn’t follow at first, for he was confused about Yixing. Was no one, except him, curious as to why the man was still in the facility, like Kris, while everyone else evacuated? “Um,” he started. Everyone stopped and looked at him. “Are we _not_ going to question him?” He pointed to Yixing.

“…What for?” Hoya asked.

“What do you mean ‘ _what for?_ ’ This man is a scientist at the facility we have infiltrated and now are currently trying to escape! Shouldn’t we, _oh, I don’t know_ , maybe _interrogate him_? Figure out why he is here, see what we can get out of him that can help us? If that’s not what you’re planning on doing to him, then why is he even _with us_? You’ve obviously already attempted to beat him up or something! I mean, look at him, his glasses are broken, and he’s all bloody and shit.”

Woohyun just didn’t get it. He felt like he was losing his mind every minute he spent in this time period. One moment, these people, the members of INFINITE, the inhabitants of South Hallow, appeared smart and vicious and brutal, and then the next moment, they acted as clueless as a child. They acted like they didn’t know how to do anything properly. _What was wrong with these people?_

“He has a point…” Yixing nodded, agreeing with the brunet.

“Thank you!” Woohyun sighed.

Suddenly Hoya pinned Yixing against the wall roughly. “Alright Doctor, why are you here while everyone else evacuated? Who are you really?” Hoya demanded. “If you don’t tell us, I’ll break the other lens!” He gestured to the left lens that didn’t have a scratch on it.

“Wait, so you had beaten him up earlier for no good reason?” Woohyun asked incredulously. Hoya ignored him.

“Please don’t break them more than you already had,” Yixing held up his hands in defense, wailing in despair. “My health insurance won’t cover the costs again. I’ll tell you everything you need to know!”

“Start spilling!”

“Well, as you already know, I’m Dr. Zhang Yixing. I am Dr. Wu Yifan’s assistant. When he or Dr. Kim Joonmyun or his assistant, Dr. Do Kyungsoo, are not around, I am in charge of this underground facility.”

“Why did you stay behind?”

“Just like Dr. Wu, I’ve decided to stay behind to finish up some research and reports that we’ve recently started.”

“How recent are we talking?”

“We just started the other day.”

“What was so important that you needed to finish up?” Sunggyu was the one to ask this time.

“W-Well, Yongguk, sir, wanted us to work on a new project…”

Hearing Yongguk’s name caught Sunggyu’s attention. Anything that was related to Yongguk was always important to Sunggyu. Anything that was related to Yongguk was always considered dangerous to Sunggyu. “What’s this new project he wants you all to work on?” Sunggyu asked before Hoya could say anymore.

“Technically, it’s not a new project. He’s reopening the K.O.T project.”

Woohyun remembered Kris mentioning something about not _wanting_ to restart the K.O.T project. And he remember coming across this _project KOT_ in one of the files he skimmed through back on the third floor of the facility.

Dongwoo started, “What’s the K–”

Sunggyu pushed Hoya out of the way and pinned Yixing to the wall. Yixing squeaked as he was being manhandled by Sunggyu. “What?! Why has he restarted the program? I thought YG closed that down for good.”

Woohyun looked at Sunggyu, taking note of the troubled look on his face and how frantic his voice sounded. It seemed that Sunggyu knew exactly what kind of project K.O.T was. “I-I-I’m not exactly sure why. Dr. W-Wu didn’t want to do it, but Y-Y-Y-Yongguk is insisting–well, more like forcing–this project to start up again, especially after that disaster that happened the other day.”

“The earthquake…?” Dongwoo asked.

Yixing shook his head. “No, that wasn’t just your average earthquake. How often do earthquakes even occur here in South Hallow? And especially one of that magnitude!”

Sunggyu released Yixing, eyeing the man with confusion. Yixing didn’t try to escape, though. He felt his neck and flexed it a bit before fixing his glasses and smoothing out his lab coat.

“Go on,” Sunggyu insisted.

“Up until the other day, we’ve have been working on a study of the human DNA and how to enhance a person’s capabilities. We wanted to create a being that was strong enough to handle and survive a war. We’ve experimented on a lot of people, but only one has survived all the test. We call him Patient X. He has reacted quite well to all of the drugs and enhancements we have given him. Everything seemed to be going good for us. We thought that maybe we had finally hit a breakthrough in our research since six years ago with Project K.O.T

“But something… _abnormal_ occurred during that earthquake, so abnormal that everything we have been working on, since the incident six years ago, was pushed to the side, almost forgotten it seemed. I, unfortunately, was not present outside during the quake, but Dr. Kim and Dr. Do was.”

“Joonmyun and Kyungsoo?” Sunggyu asked, but it was more of a statement if any. To Woohyun, it seemed Sunggyu understood everything the young doctor was explaining. But then Woohyun remembered that Dongwoo said something about Sunggyu being in the military before INFINITE came into existence. Woohyun guessed that during that time, Sunggyu had been exposed to the many horrors that went on in the BEQP facility.

Yixing nodded. “During the tremor, not only did the sky grow dark, dispelling our eternal sunset, but a beam of light shot through it, cutting the skies above in half. Thunder and lightning could be seen and heard, and a black hole formed.”

“A black hole? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dongwoo laughed, finding Yixing’s story implausible. “Hoya and I were out there during the quake. We didn’t see anything. The only things we witnessed were buildings fall apart and fires starting everywhere.”

“Maybe that’s all you were able to see from the lower sectors, but from sector six and up, everything that was going on in the heavens was clear. But on your way here, did you even glance at your surroundings? Did you take notice of the buildings and establishments in the distance that were in ruins? Did you see the highways and bridges that were still in the process of collapsing?”

Woohyun looked down for a moment. He did remember seeing a few buildings in the far distance in shambles and ruins while he was looking down into the city from the elevator, and he remembered all the chaos and destruction that was going on when he first woke up in this time.

 “That black hole pulled everything in its vicinity into it. Almost everyone and everything was swallowed.”

Dongwoo shook his head, not believing a word.

“He’s telling the truth.” Woohyun clarified.

The members of INFINITE turned to Woohyun sharply with a questioning look. The brunet continued, “When I first woke up here, Leeteuk led me outside. Everything was in chaos just like the doctor said. People were running everywhere; fires broke out everywhere; Leeteuk told me that South Hallow had just suffered from an earthquake. He told me that not even a couple of minutes before I crashed through the roof of his place, a hole formed in the sky and sucked people and buildings up, but then it suddenly spat everything but the people back out.”

Everyone grew silent as Woohyun finished giving evidence to Yixing’s story. Woohyun was almost sure Sunggyu would accuse him of lying again and claim that the government told him to lie about it. But Sunggyu didn’t say anything. Dongwoo and Hoya looked back to Yixing, waiting for the young man to continue his explanation, but Sunggyu was still staring at Woohyun.

It was a bit unnerving, and Woohyun wished he knew what Sunggyu was thinking.

Yixing took a deep breath before continuing, “Just like he said. The black hole morphed into something else and _spat out_ almost everything it had swallowed. Gravity tugged and shifted at everything. And the hole morphed into some sort of tunnel in the sky as it continued its process, and, according to Dr. Kim and Dr. Do, they saw a body enclosed in a beam of light descend from the tunnel in the sky into somewhere in the city.”

“A… body?” Sunggyu asked, his brows furrowing.

“It turns out, the black hole somehow formed into a wormhole. And in Dr. Kim’s exact words:  ‘In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of space time that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through space time. For a simple visual–’”

Suddenly, Sunggyu punched the wall behind Yixing’s head, denting the wall greatly. Everyone but Woohyun jumped at the unexpected action. Woohyun had just met Sunggyu yesterday–though it had somehow felt longer–and he was already used to Sunggyu’s sudden anger and violence.

“Shut up!” Sunggyu scowled. “I do not care what Joonmyun said, and I do not care about the exact science behind wormholes and black holes. Just tell me _why_ Yongguk had restarted the project. Tell me what Yongguk is getting out of all of this. What does this all have to do with K.O.T?!”

Yixing whimpered at Sunggyu’s words and actions, flinching at the tiniest of movements Sunggyu made, and Woohyun wondered if the young doctor was going to pee on himself.

“U-Uh, Yongguk wants us to reopen the project because based off of the actions and patterns of the black hole and based off the information we know of about wormholes, the body that came out of the black hole is of someone who’d time traveled.”

At the mention of time traveling, the members of INFINITE looked back to Woohyun. The brunet was sure he was thinking the exact same thing the members were thinking.

Was it _he_ that the BEQP scientists saw coming out of that wormhole?

Was _h_ e the same person Dr. Kim claimed time traveled?

That would explain why, when he woke up in the abandoned children’s home, that Leeteuk _claimed_ was his home, there was a huge hole in the ceiling, as if someone crashed through it from above.

Did Woohyun come from the wormhole? It made more sense than he just randomly _appearing_ and waking up in South Hallow. But _how_ is the question. Woohyun fell off the bridge during the earthquake back in his time. He fell into the river below.

He _fell_ to his death.

So at what point did he travel through a black hole and a wormhole and ended up here in South Hallow?

Yixing seemed to had understood the looks that were given to Woohyun, for he gave the brunet a contemplated look before saying, “Yongguk said for us to find out who that person was that traveled through time. If we had _another_ living subject that traveled then we may be able to conduct research and experiments on them to find out what went wrong the first time. None of us knows of who the person was, but Dr. Kim said that based on the position, area, and coordinates the body floated to, whoever this person was landed in sector four.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Woohyun saw Sunggyu tense, realizing where Yixing was going with this.

“Another?” Hoya asked, his brows furrowing. “You had experimented on someone who had traveled through time before?”

Yixing glanced at Sunggyu, as if he was expecting the man to answer the question, but Sunggyu just stood there, staring at the ground. His fist trembled in anger.

The doctor continued with his explanation, not answering Hoya. “…And interestingly enough, not even thirty minutes later, police were swarming to the area because a sudden and unknown _terrorist_ and two associates of INFINITE killed a cop.”

Woohyun wasn’t sure what to say after that. This doctor knew who he was and his bosses needed him for something.

For some kind of experiment?

“But don’t worry,” Yixing said, giving a small, hesitant smile towards Woohyun. “I have no interest of reporting about you to Yongguk, sending a team to kidnap you, experimenting and running endless tests on you that would probably end up killing you before we found any answers.”

“Uh… thanks?” Woohyun frowned.

“What does Yongguk plan to accomplish by experimenting on _this_ time traveler,” Sunggyu asked, looking back up to Yixing.

Before Yixing could answer, a loud noise came from down the hallway where the main room of the floor was located. Hoya and Sunggyu immediately raised their weapons, aiming down the long hallway. Dongwoo, who was still holding a box filled with files, took a couple of steps back, not wanting to be in the way of any conflict. Yixing and Woohyun also took a step back.

“… I think…” Hoya hesitated a bit, glancing at Sunggyu and then Yixing, before looking back down the hall, “we should continue this conversation somewhere else, somewhere safer. We’re not alone.”

“In this place, no one is ever truly alone,” Yixing warned.

Sunggyu and Hoya glanced at each other and nodded before slowly walking back to the main room. The others followed, making sure to stay a couple of steps behind. When they made it, everything was quiet. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Well, except for the fact that Kris was _gone_.

Sunggyu’s eyes widened as he lowered his gun. He staggered to the spot Kris was originally. The blood from his gunshot wound still stained the ground, but Kris was nowhere to be seen.

“Where the _hell_ did he go? He was out cold!” Sunggyu yelled. He whipped his head around, looking for any indication of the blond scientist.

“Oh yeah! This reminds me, Sunggyu! I’d never gotten a chance to finish telling you the good and bad news! Like I said, the good news is that we found this box full of important documents while the bad news was that Kris was missing.” A string of curses and death threats, directed towards Dongwoo for not saying something earlier, left Sunggyu’s mouth.

Woohyun stepped forward, eyeing their surroundings. There should had been at least a trail of blood leading in the direction Kris went, but there was nothing. His instincts told him that something was very wrong with this situation. “You guys, forget about Kris. I think we really need to _get out of here_.”

“I have some more bad news…” Dongwoo continued, ignoring Woohyun. “The elevators are no longer running. Someone must’ve shut them off to keep us down here.”

Wooyun heard Sunggyu groan and stomp his foot on the ground angrily. “ _When will this all be over_?” He mumbled. From Woohyun’s perspective, Sunggyu looked beyond exhausted. Woohyun thought he himself was worn out, but Sunggyu looked worse. He was sure the man had barely recovered from his fight with Tao earlier this afternoon. “ _Can this day and mission get any worse?_ ” Sunggyu mumbled louder.

And just as soon as those words left Sunggyu’s mouth, all the lights turned off and everyone was plunged into darkness.

“You jinxed us, Sunggyu!” Dongwoo gasped.

Out of instinct, Woohyun leaned forward, latching himself onto the closest person. And based on the grunt he heard, the person he was holding onto dear life was Hoya.

Not even a second later, the lights turned back on, but this time they were red, and they continuously blinked on and off. It was similar to when they were in the elevator, but this time, there was no alarm that followed.

“What’s going on _now_?”Sunggyu asked.

A beam of light shot out from the generator that was attached to the ceiling in the center of the room. The light circled the room before stopping on the members of INFINITE, blinding them.

“What’s happening?!” Dongwoo shouted.

“It’s the security alarm that detects intrusions into certain areas, using photo-electric beams. It detects the presence of an intruder in a forbidden zone based on their body structure and DNA using a long-wavelength infrared light.” Yixing informed, shielding his eyes as well.

“What? Speak in a language I understand!”

“Everyone in this building must do a blood test in order to work here. It’s their _key, their pass_ to get inside the building. If someone who doesn’t work here goes into one of the various off-limit areas, the alarm system activates automatically and security will be dispatched immediately.”

“Dammit!” Sunggyu cursed. “How long do we have till security gets here?”

The blinding security light suddenly turned off. The red lights stopped flickering and stayed on.  Yixing lowered his arm, looking towards the stairs. “Since the elevators have been shut down, you will have a little more extra time to find a way to escape.”

“But how?” Woohyun began to feel nervous. “The only way out is back up those stairs to the first floor, but how are we supposed to get back to the above portion of this place? The elevators aren’t working, like you said.”

“I know a way,” Yixing claimed. “There are two entrances and exits that are normally never used. Both lead into the abandoned underground transit area. One is connected to a stairwell on the fifth floor and–”

“We know about that one. We came from that entrance.”

“Well, the second one is on this floor. Follow me!” Yixing jogged back down the hall they all just emerged from.

“Why are you helping us?” Hoya asked, catching up the scientist. “You’re one of the bad guys!”

“Yeah, but I never wanted any of this,” Yixing answered. He slowed down in front of one of the doors and entered. The INFINITE members entered the room as well.

The office was big, much bigger than the small room that Woohyun walked into earlier before encountering Tao again. A huge monitor was propped on the wall opposite of the door, broadcasting various images of locations throughout the underground portion of the BEQP. Woohyun recognized most of the locations, for he and others ventured through them. The room that he was in earlier could be seen, and Tao was still on the floor unconcious.

The brunet walked further into the room, eyeing their surroundings. Besides the huge monitor, the office was in disarray. Papers were strewn everywhere.  An empty cup and a half eaten donut rested upon of the tables in the room. Woohyun was a bit relieved to come across something that he was familiar with. He was happy to know that donuts still existed in this time.

Yixing rushed to the monitor, pressing a few buttons. “This is Dr. Wu’s office,” he informed. All of the images on the monitor disappeared, and a screen asking for a password appeared. Yixing continued to tap away at the keyboard, and, suddenly, a loud sound could be heard from outside back in the hallway. “That should be the door leading back into the tunnels. Only the Doctor and I have access to the stairwells that lead back into the abandoned tunnels.”

“Why are you doing this?” Woohyun asked, giving Yixing a warily look. He wasn’t sure he could trust the man. “Doing something like this for us… You would get in trouble. Wouldn’t they kill you for doing something like this?”

“Like I said, I never wanted any of this. I might be a scientist here at the BEQP, but I have a heart too, you know. It’s either do what they say, or have my entire family killed. I really have no choice,” Yixing gave a small smile that was laced with sadness. “It’s rare to have an opportunity like this, to possibly help thwart Yongguk and YG’s plans. What they do is terrible.” He pressed a few more buttons and the cameras reappeared on the screen.

“I believe that what you guys do is right.” Yixing turned to them. “They have to be stopped. Please tell me you’ll do everything in your powers to stop Yongguk, to stop this government before it’s too late.”

“You can count on us,” Sunggyu nodded with confidence. Yixing gave a sigh of relief in return. He reached for a scrap piece of paper on one of the tables, and scribbled down a note.

“Here,” he gave the paper to Sunggyu. “Once you’ve made it through the doorway, you’ll see a keypad. Type in this combination, and the doors will lock. No one will be able to follow, but you guys won’t be able to get back in, unfortunately.”

“Hey, what’s that?!” Hoya asked, pointing to one of the images on the screen. It was the main room of the fifth floor. It was hard to see at first but smoke was quickly trailing into the room.

“I don’t know, and I don’t _wanna_ know!” Dongwoo panicked, backing up to the door.

“We need to go. Now!” Sunggyu bellowed. As everyone rushed out of the room, Yixing stayed behind, watching the cameras. Soldiers in black suits could be seen rushing onto the floor. They were all wearing black gas masks and were carrying various guns and weapons.

“Doctor, what about you? You can’t stay here!” Woohyun lingered in the doorway. He could hear the others call his name. “They’ll kill you.” Yixing shook his head, not answering. Woohyun rushed up to him, grabbing his arm. “Come with us. I’m sure Sunggyu and the others won’t mind. You helped us, gave us a way out. The least we could do is protect you…” Woohyun urged, tugging on Yixing’s arms.

“Woohyun,” he turned to said young man, gently placing a hand over Woohyun’s. “It’s alright. If my reward for helping you guys means death, then I’ll happily accept it. This all needs to end, Woohyun. I can’t keep living like this. The people of South Hallow cannot keep living like this. At the rate we are all going, there won’t be a South Hallow in the next couple of years.

“If you are the one who truly time traveled, the one that my superiors are looking for, then you are a truly valuable man. Don’t let them get you. Don’t let what they did to the previous boy, who time traveled six years ago, do to you.”

“Woohyun!” Sunggyu stormed into the room. “C’mon!”

“But!” Woohyun begged, looking to Sunggyu. Said man grabbed Woohyun, forcing the younger to release Yixing.

“If he wants to stay, then let him.”

The soldiers could be seen on the camera approaching the hallway. The smoke had already infiltrated the hallway and was slowly advancing on them.

“But–”

“They’re going to kill you. _He_ is going to kill you,” Sunggyu stated, glancing at Yixing. The doctor nodded. “The least we can do is make it look like we forced you, threatened you.” Yixing nodded again, and before Woohyun could understand what Sunggyu meant, the leader aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, shooting Yixing in the thigh.

Woohyun wasn’t sure whose scream was louder, his or Yixing. The doctor collapsed to the floor, clutching his thigh. Blood pooled around him as he struggled to press his hand against the wound. He coughed, blood trickling from his mouth, and he was yelling at them, yelling at them to leave.

Woohyun felt his arm being tugged. He felt his feet moving on their own accord. And the last image of Yixing smiling at them, blood staining his lips, wishing them God’s speed, stayed forever etched in his mind.

Bullets whizzed around them as they emerged into the hallway. Yelling could be heard as an army of footsteps were getting closer. Sunggyu’s hand enclosed around Woohyun’s pulling him down the hallway, effectively turning down the correct corridors that led to the tunnels. Woohyun looked behind him to see that three soldiers had caught up to them.

The brunet managed to match Sunggyu’s speed enough to push them both to the side to avoid the spray of bullets that shot towards. One particular soldier ran up to them, foregoing his gun and threw a punch towards the rebel leader. Sunggyu easily dodged the punch, throwing his own, effortlessly cracking the glass covering the eyes of the soldier’s gas mask. The man grunted, snapping the mask off and clutching his bloody face. Before the other two soldiers could attack Sunggyu as well, they were shot down by Dongwoo and Hoya who were guarding the exit into the stairwells that led to the tunnels.

Woohyun looked down the hallway, waiting to see if anymore soldiers were coming. None had luckily caught up yet, but the smoke did. Woohyun tugged Sunggyu’s hand that still was gripping Woohyun’s, pointing to the smoke. “C’mon!”

Dongwoo rushed into the stairwell as Hoya propped it open for the other two. As soon as they reached the door, Sunggyu pushed Woohyun further in, urging the latter to hurry down the stairs. Woohyun went down a couple of steps, but didn’t descend anymore. He didn’t want to leave Sunggyu’s side.

The caramel haired man turned around and saw the keypad that Yixing mentioned on the wall. As he began to type in the numbers, one soldier emerged from the gas down the hall. He wasn’t wearing the same uniforms as the others. He was wearing simple slacks and a white buttoned up shirt. The first few at the top were unbuttoned, and the sleeves were rolled to his elbows. He stopped at the end of the hallway, not advancing towards them.

“Sunggyu,” the soldier called, and took off his gas mask. It was a young man with red hair and the sides shaved. The man stuffed one of his hands in his pants pocket while the other had a handgun in it.

The INFINITE leader tore his eyes away from the keypad, for his finished inputting the password. His eyes locked with the redhead, and they both stood perfectly still for what felt like hours as the door slowly closed.

“Yongguk,” Sunggyu called back. His voice was laced with disdain but also another emotion Woohyun couldn’t identify.

Sadness?

Regret?

A group of soldiers rushed onto the scene, aiming their guns at Woohyun and Sunggyu, but Yongguk raised his arm, stopping them from pulling the trigger.

Just as the doors completely shut, Woohyun saw Yongguk briefly direct his attention to Woohyun, giving the younger the most vindictive smile he had ever seen.

Sunggyu stood in front of the door, not moving a single inch. His body was tense, and Woohyun could see Sunggyu’s hand turned red from how hard he was gripping his gun. Woohyun tentatively reached forward, placing his hand on the man’s shoulder. Sunggyu flinched at the touch, but Woohyun could feel his muscles relax soon after.

“C’mon, Sunggyu,” Woohyun said, his voice echoing throughout the quiet and empty stairwell.

* * *

 

Their heavy breathing filled the quietness of the tunnels. Woohyun leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the dusty floor, coughing a bit. He had never ran that fast before. His throat constricted, and it was hard to breathe.

Sunggyu leaned against the wall next to him, breathing deeply. Hoya leaned forward on his knees, one hand placed firmly on his chest. Dongwoo dropped the box of papers and files, wiping away the sweat forming on his forehead. He slid his backpack off, unzipping it. He rummaged around the bag for a couple of seconds before procuring a couple flash lights out of his backpack. He handed them to the others.

The lights flickered around as the guys determined which direction to head. They needed to create as much distance from the entrance of the BEQP as possible just in case anyone decided to break through the exit and follow them into the tunnels. Dongwoo pulled out the map, studying it a bit before pointing his flashlight to the left.

“Heading that way,” he shook his flashlight a bit, making the light swish. “will lead us directly to sector three, and from there, we can safely traverse down to sector two.” Everyone muttered an ‘okay,’ preparing for yet another long journey through the tunnels. Hopefully, no one would follow them, and they could take their time, resting a bit here and there.

“Let’s go home, you guys,” Sunggyu sighed, pushing himself off the tunnel wall. He rubbed his face, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He was so tired. Once they got back, he was going to take a week-long nap. As he started taking a few steps in the direction that led out of the tunnels, he felt his legs give way slightly. Before he could completely fall, an arm wrapped around his torso, helping him stand and catch his balance. Sunggyu wrapped his arm around their shoulders out of reflex.

“Don’t worry,” Woohyun looked straight ahead with a strained smile, obviously struggling to help keep Sunggyu up straight. “I got you too.”

Sunggyu’s brows furrowed, confused by the statement.

“I promise I won’t let you fall either.” He glanced at Sunggyu, giving him a brighter smile, his eyes crinkling into crescents.

“I will _never_ let go as well.”


	22. Memories of the Past

Ayoung man with short blond hair sat down at the table with a tray full of food. He gave a deep, tired sigh, still recovering from the mission he had just returned from last night. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, picking up the fork on his tray. He pushed the contents on the plate back and forth, not really finding the meal appetizing. The food the military served was never very appealing.

The young man pushed his tray to the side and folded his arms in front of him on the table, laying his head on them. He attempted to get a couple more minutes of shut eye before the big morning crowd of soldiers shuffled into the cafeteria for breakfast. Despite the quietness and with how exhausted he felt, constant thoughts were running through his head. There was no way he would be able to catch a few minutes of sleep.

The blond sighed again, adjusting in his position a bit so that he could peek between his arms.  He watched as people began to pile into the cafeteria. Most still had their eyes closed, stumbling and bumping into one another as they gather into a line to get their plates.

He saw Lee Taemin, a fellow soldier from his barracks that he lives in, push his way towards the front of the line, and then there was Kim Taehyung, like the idiot he was, _rolling_ into the cafeteria, like he was on the battlefield or something.

_Tsk, like that would ever happen._ The blond couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Half of these guys didn’t know the true horrors of being out there, being out there on the field. Most of them didn’t know what it was like pulling the trigger on your friends, your comrades, people you knew and trusted.

Watching his fellow soldiers get their food, the young man couldn’t help but wonder how the military worked in _that world, that time_. That _place_ was so different than this. The people, the environment, the government, it was nothing like how it was in his time. What happened in history to change the world so drastically?

Was everything that _boy_ told him true? Like in the history books, their land, their _world_ was once at peace. The word _peace_ was such a foreign concept to him. What was it like living in a world where the possibility of waking up to someone pressing a knife to your throat didn’t exist? A world where you were infiltrating enemy territory to learn of their weakness and bring them down successfully? A world where he did not fear of the events of tomorrow?

A world where he didn’t have to pray every single night, hoping to see the light of another day?

“Well, well, well,” a voice drawled. “I wasn’t expecting you to return back home for a couple of more days.” The young man felt the table shift as a familiar someone placed their tray on the table. Their chair screeched against the floor as they situated themselves next to the blond.

“Surprise, surprise,” the blond yawned, sitting up. He stretched his arms up, hearing the familiar sounds of his joints cracking. He turned to his companion, a young man, appearing to be around his age, with short black hair that was parted in the middle. The blond placed his left arm on the table, propping it up and leaning his face against it. He gave the other man a small and weary smile.

“How come you didn’t drop by? I’ve been worried since you left,” the raven haired man’s concerns were a bit muffled as he stuffed a forkful of food into his mouth.

“I got back late last night, and I didn’t finish the report and check-up that Dr. Wu did on me till a few hours ago. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh, please,” the blond could see _and_ hear the other roll his eyes. “Excuses…”

“I missed you too, _Yongguk_ ,” the blond leaned over and gave a quick peck to the cheek after making sure no one was looking. He squeezed the other’s bicep affectionately. Before Yongguk could reciprocate any sort of affection, another voice called out to the blond.

“Himchan, you’re back!” A young man with short, slightly tousled red hair sat in front of the two, beaming brightly at the blond. “You’re back so soon!” Himchan sent a smile back. He couldn’t help wonder when was the last time he saw the red head that happy.

“How was the mission? What was it like, that world? Did you bring me any souvenirs? Is it like what they all say–I mean, like what they say in the books? Did–”

“Woah, slow down,” Himchan chuckled, trying to keep up with the questions. “Sometimes I forget you’re the oldest out of the three of us when you act like that.”

The red head pouted, glaring slightly at the blond. “I just wanna know what it’s like over there, in that _time_.” He leaned forward, expectantly.

“I just got back, and I’m already getting interrogated by the both of you. I don’t even get a _hello_ and a _how are you, Himchan_ ,” the blond dramatically sighed, closing his eyes and placing the back of his hand against his forehead. “Some friends you are!”

“Well, good thing I’m more than just a friend,” Yongguk snickered, stuffing more food into his mouth.

“Some friend and _boyfriend_ you are,” Himchan dramatically sighed again. Both men laughed at Himchan’s antics, their concerns and worries over the blond’s absence for the past couple of weeks edging away. “Come back to me with all those questions after I get a couple of hours of sleep.” Himchan yawned again.

“You do look pretty exhausted,” the red head noted.

Himchan nodded, “I didn’t get much sleep while I was over there.”

“Was it not like what the scientist predict? What the history books said it was once like?”

“It was…” Himchan trailed, staring at the table. “…It was just like they all said. That world, that time, it was beautiful. The _past_ was just as beautiful and peaceful as we all predicted.” Himchan glanced at the red head as he listened to what the blond said. Just like himself, it was obvious, based off of the expression on the red head's face, that there being a time period in their history where war didn’t lay waste to the land and tearing apart families and homes was a foreign thought.

“So are you gonna eat that?” Yongguk gestured to Himchan’s untouched breakfast. Himchan slid his tray over to Yongguk, not muttering a word. “The mystery meat they’re serving this morning is actually pretty good. It doesn’t taste like the usual mixture of reptiles. Perhaps jellyfish?” The blond was thankful for the change in the subject. His mind was still reeling from his mission.

Well, could one really call it a mission? It was more of an experiment. Himchan was chosen, by Dr. Wu himself, to test their new project. It was called Project KOT. Himchan wasn’t exactly sure what the _KOT_ stood for, but basically, through some sort of machine that the BEQP scientists created, Himchan was the first person to physically travel through time for more than a few minutes. According to the records, Himchan traveled far in the past.

He traveled well over five thousand years into the past. And he was the first one to successfully to come back to their current time period alive.

He didn’t come back alone, though.

“Hey, did you see that guy in Dr. Wu’s lab, the brunet?” the red head asked, crossing his arms. Yongguk shook his head; a frowned etched on Himchan’s face. “I wonder if he is new. I’ve never seen him around here before. All the doctors were crowding him, talking to him. I couldn’t hear what any of them were saying, though. The poor guy was shaking so badly and looked like he was about to pee on himself,” the red head mused.

“Well, let’s hope for his sake that he’s just some new recruit and they’re doing the usual military check-ups on him,” Yongguk mumbled, scarfing down the remainder of Himchan’s food. He turned to said man, noticing how quiet the man grew. “Himchan?”

The blond startled, feeling Yongguk’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to his boyfriend but did not say anything. He stared at him with little emotion on his face.

“Is everything alright?” The red head asked, eyeing the blond. His eyes narrowed, watching the blond’s reactions.

“You know,” Himchan said, ignoring the question. “Yongguk, you would look good with red hair,” he reached up, tugging at the raven’s hair a bit. “Not too bright and not too dark, but a…nice red, like his,” he gestured to the other young man at the table.

Yongguk frowned, choosing to not say anything. He wasn’t sure where this was all coming from. Himchan was known to be a little _out there_ at times and voiced his random thoughts and opinions, but this was just a bit concerning.

“And you,” he turned to their other companion. “Maybe a nice, light brown? Like a honey caramel? That would look nice on you. And then maybe you could finally get yourself a girlfriend. Or boyfriend, which ever floats your boat.” Himchan gave the older boy a tiny a small. He then proceeded to ask the two what they’ve been up to since he left for his mission.

The three of them sat in the cafeteria for the next hour or so, catching up, but while Himchan talked, the other two couldn’t help but give each other a worried glance, for they were both perturbed by his capricious behavior.

“Well,” Himchan yawned, stretching his arms once more. “I think I will go to my bunk and try to get some sleep. I won’t be joining you two in practice today; I was given the clear for at least a week off from training and missions.” He stood up from the table, gathering his and Yongguk’s trays. “I’ll see you two later.” The blond pecked Yongguk’s cheek and patted the red head on the head.

The other two said their goodbyes and promised to meetup later. And just as Himchan walked out of the small cafeteria, he turned back to his companions, who didn’t bother to get up yet, and said to the red head, “Later on, _Sunggyu_ , I’ll answer all those questions and tell you about the boy, who I brought back with me from the past.”

* * *

 

Sunggyu opened his slowly opened his eyes, his vision slightly blurred from still being partially asleep. It’s been a long time since he had a full, complete sleep. And it’s been a long time since he had a dream in which Himchan was still _alive_. He supposed it was because of seeing Yongguk again. Seeing Yongguk again brought back all the unwanted memories from six years ago.

Himchan was _never_  the same after he came back from the past the _first_ time. The Himchan that he and Yongguk _knew_ died long before he even left for that mission. He thought he was over it. He thought he was over what happened back then, but being back in that place, being back in the BEQP, seeing all those familiar faces–Kris, Taemin, Yongguk–it still felt like yesterday that he was still seventeen years old; he was still an elite member of the military, the top of his rank.

But he was still just a naïve kid, fighting for his country, fighting for what he believed–or more like what was fed to him–was right.

It still felt like yesterday when he held that boy in his arms, feeling his body grow weak, watching the light fade from his eyes as he made Sunggyu promise an impossible promise.

It still felt like yesterday when the labs exploded and he saw Yongguk glowering at him from across the facility, yelling his name over and over and over again with a dead Himchan in his arms, blaming him for everything and anything.

It still felt like yesterday when he  _escaped_.

When he escaped and started INFINITE. When it was just him and a small ragtag group of teens, wanting to change the system and fight for a new world, none of who are still alive because the system fought back, and Sunggyu was the only one strong and skilled enough to survive, the only one who knew what it was like to survive out in the streets with no one watching your back and knew what it was like to survive on the inside where a simple mistake was enough to get yourself killed and replaced by some other poor bastard in the same day.

And people still wondered why Sunggyu was inhospitable.

Stand-offish.

_Aloof_.

The leader pulled a bandaged hand from under the covers and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, but it definitely had been at least a day or two since he and the others had returned from the mission. The minute they stepped foot in the headquarters, they were surrounded by most of the members of INFINITE, congratulating them on the mission, happy they all made it back in one piece.

Apparently, everything that happened up until his group made it to the underground section of the BEQP made it on the news. From the explosions that were caused by Tao’s rocket launcher to the evacuation of the aboveground portion of the BEQP to the fight they had with Taemin in the elevator. Somehow images and videos of those moments were captured, and INFINITE was being mentioned everywhere. Some were regarding them as terrorist, disturbing the _peace_ of South Hallow and others are praising them, calling them vigilantes, wondering what they’ll do next. Hoya was still going to upload and distribute the photos he took while they were in the labs to various reporters and spread more awareness of what goes on behind the close doors of the BEQP.

A cough from his left startled Sunggyu, and with all his strength he turned to the sound. His eyes slightly widen with surprise to see Woohyun curled up in a chair next to his bed. The young man was covered in bandages, mainly around his head. His arm was no longer in a sling, but it was also heavily bandaged. A light blanket was placed upon him, and his head was leaning to the side. He was snoring lightly.

Sunggyu wondered how long he had been there, and exactly how long he had been out. After they got back and after everyone was informing them of what went down after they left for the mission, Sunggyu couldn’t remember much after that. Everything went a bit blurry, and he sure he passed out from exhaustion and all the damage that was inflicted upon him that day.

The caramel haired man sat up slowly with a quiet groan. He looked to Woohyun, wondering if he should wake the younger up. He didn’t look particularly comfortable in the chair, and he looked a bit flushed in the face, as if he was coming down with a fever.

He reached out to the brunet to wake him up, his arm slightly stiffed, but he froze when the younger mumbled in his sleep.

“…ooh-hyun,” Woohyun coughed, shifting in his seat a bit. His brows were furrowed, and the expression on his face reminded Sunggyu of when they were back in the labs, and he saw Woohyun confined to the chair, being tortured by Kris. Woohyun looked utterly heartbroken, and Sunggyu wondered what Kris had told the younger that reduced him to sobs.

“…B-Boohyun… w-why did you leave…?” Woohyun mumbled again, and Sunggyu stiffened. He eyed the young man with shock and apprehension because of the familiar name that left his mouth.

“Oh, you’re awake,” a voice said, entering Sunggyu’s room. The rebel leader looked towards the door and saw Sungjong at the entrance with a tray of bandages, medicine, and food.

“Morning,” Sunggyu's  voice cracked, and he wondered how long he had been asleep.

“Good _evening_ ,” the young boy chuckled. He placed his tray on the nightstand by Sunggyu’s bed. “How do you feel?”

“Like hell,” he grunted. And it was true. Now that he was actually moving, he realized how stiff his body was and how much everything ached.

“You should; you’ve been out for, like, an entire week now. Everyone was starting to worry, especially _him_ ,” he gestured to the sleeping brunet. Sungjong handed Sunggyu a cup of water, and then began to change the dressing of his bandages. Most of his wounds and bruises have turned an ugly green and purple, but after a few more days, he was sure he would be able to get up and move around without too much difficulty.

“How long has he been here?” Sunggyu asked, after finishing his drink. He watched the brunet for a bit longer, wondering if he was just hearing things earlier.

“After the second day you didn’t wake up. He became frantic and worrisome. It was quite annoying because he was in worse shape than you were and yet he was trying to make sure you were at least still alive and kicking. I don’t know how he found the strength to do anything. If anyone should had been in a coma for a week, it should had been him,” Sungjong sighed, finishing up reapplying the bandages to Sunggyu.

 “This guy,” Sungjong kicked the chair Woohyun was sleeping in, effectively waking him up. Woohyun let out a small yelp and fell out of the chair. “Not only did he have a semi-concussion, a dislocated shoulder, and several bruised ribs, he also had a pretty serious case of the flu.”

Sunggyu raised a brow at the last symptom as Woohyun finally pulled himself back up into the chair, glaring at Sungjong. “The hell, Sungjong?! That is no way to wake up someone.”

“The _flu_?” Sunggyu repeated, cutting off any threats Woohyun was about to throw Sungjong’s way. He ignored the gawking Woohyun threw his way.

“Yeah, like, who gets the flu these days? I thought everyone was immune to that…”

“S-Sunggyu!” Woohyun exclaimed. “You’re awake; you’re actually awake!”

“How is that possible?” Sunggyu asked, still addressing Sungjong and ignoring Woohyun and the obvious offended expression that morphed on his face.

“I’m not too sure, but once we finished patching you up, he passed out. He was burning up, Sunggyu. I didn’t really know what to do, so I just gave him some meds. He’s seems to be doing better now.” Sungjong walked back to his tray and brought some medicine over. “I mean, look at him, he looks fine now.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Woohyun complained.

Sungjong roughly pulled Woohyun’s head back, and shoved some pills down his throat and then poured water over his face, not particularly caring if he soaked the front of Woohyun’s shirt in the process. Woohyun coughed and hacked, reaching for Sungjong, but the younger boy moved out of the way.

“It was really annoying treating him because one minute he seemed to be getting better, and then the next minute he’s vomiting and stumbling everywhere but insisting on sitting by your side, waiting for you to wake up.”

“I was not!” Woohyun coughed, and Sunggyu wasn't sure if the tint of redness to his cheeks was because of Sungjong’s comment or because he was still gasping for air.

Once his coughing subsided, Woohyun rubbed his neck, scowling at Sungjong so hard that it was on par with Sunggyu’s usual glares, and the caramel haired man was slightly impressed.

“Here’s some food. I’m sure you’re both starving,” Sungjong offered, pointing to the tray that was still on Sunggyu’s nightstand. “I’ll be back later to redress your bandages, Woohyun.” He then left the room.

The room grew quiet with awkwardness, and Sunggyu had half a mind to kick Woohyun out and make him go back to his own room. But then Sunggyu felt bad for even thinking of doing that, especially after finding out that Woohyun has been watching over him this entire time; but then he wondered why he even gave a flying fuck about how Woohyun felt.

The brunet coughed again, gaining Sunggyu’s attention. Woohyun’s cheeks were still flushed a light shade of red, and he had apparently found Sunggyu’s bed to be quite interesting to look at it. The older man sighed and rubbed his face. All traces of sleep were gone, but that was okay. He needed to leave his room, show everyone that he was still alive and kicking, and figure out how much damage their mission had caused to the BEQP.

Sunggyu opened his mouth to dismissed Woohyun because for some reason his presence was starting to annoy him, but instead he blurted out, “Are you okay?”

Where did that come from?

“Huh?” Woohyun blinked.

“Uh, I mean, how are you feeling? You know, since everything is over now…” His voice cracked a bit at the end. God, he needed some more water. Why the hell did Sungjong give him only one cup of water the size of a  _shot glass_?

“I’m feeling better now… I think,” Woohyun scratched his head, feeling the air around them turn even more awkward.

“That’s good,” Sunggyu hummed, nodding slightly. He wasn’t good at these kinds of conversations. “Sungjong said you caught the flu.”

“Yeah, I feel better. It’s probably–hopefully–what Kris gave me,” Woohyun slouched in his chair, pulling his sheet up to his neck, giving Sunggyu the impression of a sulking kitty.

“ _He gave you the flu?_ ”

Woohyun nodded, “Back in the labs, in order to prove that I was from the time period I claimed to be from, he had injected me with two different illnesses. One illness that only people from my time would be immune to, and one that your people should be immune to. He could have given me anything; I’m not too sure. The only thing that has seen to affect me since then was me suddenly coming down with the flu.”

“People don’t get the flu, Woohyun,” Sunggyu informed. “That’s something we’ve been immune to for centuries.”

“Yeah, Sungjong said the same thing.”

“Do you know what else he gave you?”

Woohyun shook his head. “Whatever it was, it hasn’t affected me yet. I can only assume that it took no effect on me because I was immune.”

Sunggyu frowned, not liking what Kris did to Woohyun. He could had given something extremely deadly to Woohyun, and Sunggyu wouldn’t had been able to do anything to save him. Woohyun’s blood would had been on his hands.

Even though everything’s over, Woohyun’s life still rests in his hands. Sunggyu suddenly remembered all the information Dr. Zhang relayed to them back in the labs.

They knew.

They knew that someone had time traveled. They may not have known that it was Woohyun, but they knew. And they were going to destroy the city, looking for him.

“Well since I’m still alive, I guess you’re gonna have to admit it,” Woohyun smiled, looking expectant of Sunggyu.

Said man was pulled out of thoughts. He raised his brows at Woohyun, confused at where he was going with this.

“I didn’t die from whatever Kris gave me, so that’s proof alone that I’m from the past,” Woohyun drawled. “Sooooo Sunggyu…”

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes, getting fed up with Woohyun’s allusiveness. “What are you getting at?”

“I think you owe someone an apology,” he smirked, leaning forward towards Sunggyu.

“Apologize the fuck to who? For what?”

“Me!”

“Why?!”

“For all the abuse–verbal and physical–you gave me because this entire time you thought I was lying and was secretly a spy. But in fact, I’ve been telling the truth this entire time! I am from the past, Sunggyu! So hah!”

“Get out,” Sunggyu simply stated.

“Nope! Not until I get my goddamn apology,” Woohyun crossed his arms, rolling his eyes at the older man. “After everything that happened, you at least owe me that.” He missed the seething rage leaking from Sunggyu’s eyes.

Before Woohyun’s brain could register what happened, he was thrown face first into the wall out in the hallway. He heard a door slam behind him. He was pretty sure he felt blood seep from his nose.

“Stay the fuck outta my room, Woohyun!”

Woohyun crumpled to the floor with a groan.


	23. Death Haunts Us All

_"I_ _can see why he was so in love with you.”_ Suji would sometimes say.

Woohyun’s mother would say this often to him. She never delved into who exactly she was talking about or if she was truly talking to Woohyun.

At times, she would just stare at him for a long period of time and then, suddenly, throw some offhand comment towards him.

Woohyun would sometimes come across her whispering to herself, mentioning people, dates, and locations he had never heard of. When he would ask her if she were okay, Suji would give him a confused look and tsk in his face.

She would always say, “ _Why you?_ ” and walk away.

Sometimes, Woohyun wondered if Suji _hated_ him.

When Woohyun was sixteen, not long after Boohyun’s disappearance, the brunet’s mother gradually became ill. The signs weren’t obvious at first, and Woohyun was too blind to notice her flawed public façade that masked her pain.

Woohyun came home from school one day only to find Suji on the kitchen floor unconscious and barely breathing. The doctors told him that if he would had gotten home any later, if he would had not immediately phoned the paramedics, his mother would had died on that kitchen floor.

Just like his father.

Suji was diagnosed with _Sepsis._ The direct cause of it was unknown, but the doctors were able to trace the infection to her lungs. The doctors did everything they could, gave her the necessary treatments and biotics. But it was too late to properly manage the sepsis; she was diagnosed too late. They couldn’t do much for her.

It was a miracle she lived another five years.

Woohyun always noticed that his mother would always give the doctors a smug look during her routine check-up, as if she knew the real cause of her illness. As if she knew this was all supposed to happen. As if someone told her of her future’s outcome prematurely.

It took a while for Woohyun to come to terms with his mother’s sickness. Soon, he wouldn’t have any family left. His father was dead, Boohyun was missing, and his mother was terminally ill.

Soon he would be alone.

Once Suji was gone, he would have no one.

Even outside of his family life, he barely had anyone. Sure, Woohyun had a few _friends_ , but they were more so acquaintances. He had only hung out with them on a number of occasions. And he had always felt like he was the one putting way too much effort into building a friendship only for them to act like it was a chore just to keep in contact.

And the few guys and girls Woohyun introduced to his mother as his boyfriend/girlfriend didn’t last long because Suji would act batshit crazy towards them–doctors claimed it was a symptom of the illness; Woohyun called bullshit–and say they wouldn’t last long.

_“What’s the point of even introducing them to me, Woohyun. You two won’t last. They’re not...”_ she would point to Woohyun’s date. _“They’re not…”_ She would never finish her sentence.

She would just stand there, silently crying in front of them.

Woohyun’s relationships tended to never last too long once they met his mother, even after he explained her condition.

At these times, Woohyun swore Suji _hated_ him.

Woohyun couldn’t remember the last time someone made him feel wanted, like he belonged. Living on your own without any living relatives to talk and to see really made him feel isolated. Despite the strain relationship between them, the only constant in his life was his mother, but with the way her health had rapidly decline in the last few years really shook him up. And in these past couple of months leading up to her death, Suji wasn’t really there. Physically, maybe. But sometimes, when she spook to Woohyun, it was like she was talking to someone else, talking about things and events the brunet had never heard of. She never talked about the same thing.

But she would always mention the word _Infinite_.

* * *

 

“What’s going on?” Woohyun asked, peering into Sungjong’s room. The brunet was currently making his way to Dongwoo’s quarters to chat with the second-in-command about various events from his time period, but he couldn’t help but stop by Sungjong’s room after hearing a loud crash.

“Hm?” Woohyun heard Sungjong say as he walked into the young man’s room, but he wasn’t exactly sure where the voice came from. Sungjong’s room was a mess. Boxes and empty medical kits were strewed all over the floor; documents and books littered the table that was situated in the middle of the room; chairs and lamp posts were turned upside down. Woohyun thought he was a messy guy, but Sungjong took the cake.

“Sungjong?” The brunet called out, walking further into the room. He took extra precaution to not step on any of the articles that laid waste to the ground.

“Over here,” his voice came from another room where clothes were flying out of. A messy mop of burgundy red hair poked from, what Woohyun assumed was, the closet. “What’s up, Woohyun? Is your nose still bleeding?”

Woohyun frowned at the statement, feeling the bandages around the broken nose Sunggyu gave him last week. It was still tender to the touch.

Sungjong continued, “If it is, I can’t do anything else about it. I’ve used up all of my supplies patching you and the others up from the mission. I’m sure you’ll eventually stop bleeding and actually be able to breathe properly again,” he stuck his head back into the closet. More clothes began to fly out. His voice became somewhat muffled. “I highly suggest you stay away from Sunggyu if you don’t want to get hurt _again_. If anything else happens, I won’t be able to easily mend the broken bones since I’m short on supplies.”

“No, my nose is fine.” That was a lie. It hurt like a little bitch, but of course Woohyun wasn’t going to admit that. “I was just checking to see what was going on. I heard a crash coming from your room.” Woohyun made his way to Sungjong’s bed, which was surprisingly absent of trash. He sat down, leaning back against the wall.

His nose wasn’t the only thing that hurt. His shoulder was still causing him a little discomfort. But thanks to Sungjong and his amazing yet questionable medical skills, Woohyun had made a full recovery after the dangerous infiltration into the BEQP. However, his shoulder was still giving him problems. It was no longer in a sling, and he could freely move it, but whenever he attempted to raise his arm high, he would feel a jolt of pain shoot up his spine. Sungjong told him that that was normal, and in a month or so, the pain will become less and less noticeably. True or not, Woohyun was sure his shoulder would never truly recover, and it would never feel the same.

“I’m looking for a map,” Sungjong said after a moment. “With Sunggyu being out of commission for these past couple of weeks and with Dongwoo and Hoya, our two other strongest members in INFINITE, not in the best shape to leave for another mission, our usual supply raid has been put on hold, hence the whole not having any more medical supplies. So I’m looking for my map that I have circled locations that are stocked full of supplies that I can go to. I haven’t looked at the map in while since it was usually Sunggyu and some of the others that would make the run…”

Woohyun tuned Sungjong out, not really caring about what the younger boy was going on about. The brunet decided to further inspect Sungjong’s room from where he was sitting. Besides the obvious mess all over the ground and table, Woohyun noticed a few picture frames that laid upon the dresser next to Sungjong’s bed.

The brunet reached out and picked the closest one up. Woohyun couldn’t help the smile that emerged on his face. The picture was of a young Sungjong, sitting on an older man’s shoulder with his hands raised high in the air and a big smile directed towards whoever took the picture. There was a young woman, standing next to the other two, with her arms wrapped around the older man’s forearm. Both adults in the picture had beautiful smiles on their faces.

“That’s my mom and dad,” Woohyun heard Sungjong say as he felt the younger boy sit next to him on the bed.

“You look just like your mom,” Woohyun cooed, admiring the striking similarities between Sungjong and his mom.

“That’s what everyone says,” Sungjong chuckled.

“How old were you in this picture?”

“Gah, I don’t remember exactly…” he looked towards the ceiling, his eyes glazed over with thought. “I had to be at least five. I remember that day was the first time my dad had enough free time from his job that he took me and my mom for a little adventure.” A soft smile played on his lips. “We went to the park, fed some crocodiles, and then went to eat ice cream.”

Woohyun wasn’t even going to question why his family fed predatory reptiles like crocodiles.

“That was probably the best day of my life!”

“The _best_ day?” Woohyun’s brows furrowed. “But you were only five…” He immediately regretted the sentence that came out of his mouth after the crestfallen expression that appeared on the younger boy’s face.

Before a ‘sorry’ could come tumbling out of his mouth, Sungjong said, “Dad was always busy. So I didn’t get to see him much when I was younger. As a family, we didn’t really spend a lot of time together as a whole. It wasn’t until my dad started helping INFINITE that I started to spend more time with him, but…” Sungjong trailed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Your dad worked for INFINITE?”

“Not officially or anything. His role was somewhat similar to that of Leeteuk’s.”

For a brief moment, Woohyun wondered where that old, smelly man ran off to. He hadn’t seen him since he first arrived in the INFINITE headquarters and Sunggyu dragged him off to interrogate him. Was it sad to say that he kind of missed him?

“When needed, my father would supply important information to INFINITE about government related issues and the sort.”

“Wow,” Woohyun’s eyes widened a bit. “Was your dad some sort of big politician or something?” He wondered if he was asking too many personal questions.

“No, not really. He was a secretary for someone who worked directly under YG himself, so he was privy to a lot of top secret info. Because of his job, we had it pretty easy, living in sector seven.”

Woohyun remembered the brief explanation Dongwoo gave him about how South Hallow was split into ten sectors based off of the living environment with sector one being the most poverty-stricken of them all while sector ten must of felt like living in luxury.

Sunggyu was from sector ten.

How was someone so callous, like Sunggyu, raised in the richest, most prosperous part of the city? You would have thought he was raised by a pack of wild, ferocious hamsters with the way he acted.

“You’d be surprised with how many top officials that actually disagreed with YG and with how he and his followers ran South Hallow,” Sungjong continued.

“But if that many people opposed, then how is YG still in charge?”

“Oppose YG and, well, to put it simply, everything you know and love will come to an end.”

“YG killed–?” Woohyun couldn’t finish with the big lump in his throat. Sungjong hadn’t even said anything and the brunet already felt a tremendous amount of pain for the younger.

“It’s hard sneaking around those who work directly under YG while also working for the rebel group that is constantly thwarting their plans. Things are bound to go wrong, right?” Woohyun nodded. “Well, Sunggyu got a tip from one of his other contractors that YG were aware that there was a mole amongst them. Sunggyu alerted my father, and with a hasty, not-well thought out plan, he made arrangements to have Sunggyu watch over me for a while and send my mom to live stay with her sisters down in sector five while he tied up loose ends.

“As I’m sure you can predict, not everything went as planned,” Sungjong gave a dry chuckled, and Woohyun wondered how someone as sweet–okay, that’s a lie–and innocent as Sungjong had to go through such a traumatic experience and still be able to smile as if it never happened. “I came home from school–it was my last day, since later that evening, I would be temporarily moving to the headquarters–only to find the entire house a wreck. At first I thought it was because my dad was trying to clear the house, but when I walked into the kitchen, I saw my mom tied down to a chair, bloody and beaten to a pulp. She was crying and groaning in pain. Two men were off to the side, deep in a conversation. My father was on the floor. He wasn’t moving, but I could tell he was still alive.”

Woohyun gripped the bedsheets till his knuckles turned white, feeling his stomach go queasy at the thought of what Sungjong had to see in that kitchen.

Sungjong sighed, adjusting on the bed until he was once again comfortable; his shoulders were tensed with unease. “I remembered the look in my mother’s eyes as she noticed me in the doorway. The look in her eyes… She was pleading for me, pleading for me to run and hide before the others saw me. I couldn’t recall a time when my mother looked so… so _terrified_. I feel like that’s not even a good word to describe it. To this day, I’m still haunted by that. My body still fills with dread and apprehension when I think too long about her.

“I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I was frozen in place, and no matter how much my mother screamed at me with her eyes, to run, to run and never look back, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. It didn’t matter, though. There was a third man in the room that neither of us were aware of and the last thing I remembered was hearing a muffled shout, and I’d liked to believe it was my mother who called for me, but when I came to, both of them–my mother and my father–were dead.”

Sungjong was quiet for a moment, and Woohyun felt the need to pull the younger into a tight hug, to reassure him, to let him know that everything was–and _will_ –be alright.

But no, that would be a lie. No matter what Woohyun said, it wouldn’t bring the boy’s parents back, and it would almost be an insult to treat Sungjong that way as if he were a child. The boy was so young and to have to go through something like that… Woohyun couldn’t even imagine.

“My head was foggy, and I think I was bleeding–a concussion probably. I was lying on the kitchen floor and there was blood all around me. I wasn’t sure if it belonged to me or them. My eyesight was a bit blurry, but I clearly remembered watching those men drag my parents’ dead bodies away; away out of the house. To this day, I’m not sure what they did to them, and I don’t think I ever want to know.”

“How old were you when this happened?”

“Seventeen.”

Two years ago.

It’s only been two years since Sungjong lost his parents, and Woohyun couldn’t even begin to imagine what going through all of that felt like. Yeah, both his parents, and apparently, his older brother, were all dead, but at least they didn’t die brutal deaths. Ah, well, the brunet wasn’t sure how Boohyun died. And quite frankly, he didn’t want to know.

“It’s okay, Woohyun. You don’t need to cry,” Sungjong consoled, giving the older boy a one arm hug around the shoulders. His laughter filled the room, and Woohyun couldn’t fight the smile that emerged on his face despite what they were just talking about. The brunet was the one trying to come up with a way to console the younger and yet his eyesight was getting blurry and he could feel tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

When all laughter died down, Woohyun whispered, “I’m sorry Sungjong.” And he truly was. He may have not gone through anything as traumatic as that, but nonetheless, he knew what loss felt like. He gave the boy a meaningful look. He could see the tears in the boy’s eyes.

Sungjong gave a small nod. He understood. He knew Woohyun had gone through something similar. He knew what the pain felt like.

“It’s _okay_. _I’m_ okay. _I’m fine now_. I’m not the only one who has gone through some crazy shit, Woohyun. We all have. We have all seen some things that’ll haunt us forever. I have. Sunggyu has. Dongwoo, Hoya, Sungyeol, and L have. Everyone in INFINITE has, even you. And that’s what brings us together. Everyone in INFINITE is like one big fucking family. Dongwoo and Hoya, they’re like the uncles! Sungyeol is the creepy brother that no one really likes.” Woohyun snorted at that. “L–I still refuse to believe that is his real name–is the quiet adopted cousin that is sketchy as fuck. And Sunggyu is… Sunggyu is…”

Sungjong trailed off for a moment, thinking hard about how he viewed Sunggyu.

“Sunggyu is like an older brother for me. He has cared for me, watched my back, protected me… Although he was too late, and they had already dragged my parents away, Sunggyu came for me. He came to rescue me. He saved me, and I am forever in his debt.” He gave a warm smile. “He is like the cool big brother I always wanted, but in terms of INFINITE, he is like the father.”

He paused for a moment, “And then, there is _you_.”

The burgundy haired boy gave him Woohyun a look he could not comprehend. “You _literally_ came out of nowhere and into our lives. For better or worse, who knows? You’re a part of us now. You’re a part of INFINITE. And I don’t think any of us regrets meeting you, letting you stay here with us, even Sunggyu.”

“Oh, Sungjong…” Woohyun blurted, and he was pretty sure the bandages that were covering his nose and nostrils were damp with snot. He dramatically pulled Sungjong into a tight hug, burying his face into the younger’s shoulder. That was the first time someone had said anything like that to him.

He actually felt like he belonged.

Sungjong chuckled, patting Woohyun’s hair lightly, making a face at the feeling of his shirt becoming damp with tears, “…I haven’t seen Sunggyu this lively and talkative since you came.”

“What do you mean?” Woohyun asked, pulling away, his brows furrowing.

“Sunggyu is always brooding and acting like an emotionally wrecked teenager. And then when you showed up–” Sungjong suddenly looked around his room, eyeing everything. Then he leaned up close to Woohyun, whispering in his ear, “I’ve never seen such a genuine smile on his face until you came.”

Woohyun could feel his face get hot at the statement. He smushed his cheeks with his palms, trying to fight the blush away. He ignored the knowing smile on Sungjong's face.

The only times the brunet had seen Sunggyu smile at him was when he saved him. When he fell out of the elevator, Sunggyu reached for him and gave him a smile, telling him that he would never let go. When Kris was experimenting on him, when he found out about his brother, Sunggyu came to his rescue, and he gave him a reassuring smile as he helped him.

The brunet didn’t see either of those smiles as genuine but more so ‘Why the fuck do you keep getting into these situations’ smiles.

There was knock on Sungjong’s door that gained the boy’s attention. Both boys turned to the door, startled by the noise.

“Is everything alright?” Sunggyu asked, eyeing the two boys suspiciously. Sungyeol was behind him, his brows furrowing. Woohyun was sure they must had looked crazy. Sungjong’s room was a complete mess and turned upside and the two of them were on his bed. Sungjong was all up in his personal space, and they both looked like they’ve been crying for thirty minutes straight. Woohyun looked down, trying his best to compose himself, hoping that the blush still wasn’t evident on his face.

“Everything is totally fine,” Sungjong chuckled, getting off the bed. “Just talking.” He gave Woohyun a smile. Everything they talked about would be between them. Woohyun smiled in return.

Sungyeol adjusted the frames on his face and said, “Just talking? You guys look like you saw your mothers die right in front of you.”

Woohyun frowned at the tall man. Although true for both Sungjong and himself, that was a very terrible thing to say. Sunggyu looked like he wanted to smack Sungyeol. It was nice seeing Sunggyu’s usual glares not directed at him for once.

“See what I mean?” Sungjong deadpanned, glancing at Woohyun.

_Sungyeol: the creepy brother that no one really likes._

“So, what’s up, Sunggyu?” Sungjong asked, kicking a few articles of clothing under his bed, as if it would make his room look any less dirty.

“We’re,” Sunggyu gestured to himself and Sungyeol, stepping into the room. “drawing up plans for a supply raid and reconnaissance mission that is overdue. I wanted to know if you, uh, were interested in coming along this time around. I know the other day you were mentioning about how low we were on supplies, so I thought it would be good for you to come and uh, pick and choose what we needed. That is, if you want.” It seemed like Sunggyu was having a hard time telling Sungjong this. It was obvious Sunggyu was the type to not like asking for someone’s help. Sunggyu shifted on his feet, looking everywhere but at Sungjong. He even spared a glance a Woohyun.

“Of course! I know how hopeless you all are when it comes to medical supplies and terminology. But where are going? I can’t seem to find my map–”

Sunggyu held up a worn and torn map of what appeared to be South Hallow. There were circles and Xs and little notes all over it.

“Where did you…?” Sungjong snatched the map out of the older man’s hands. Sunggyu didn’t answer and gave Sungjong a knowing look. “Ugh, stop coming in my room when I’m not around!”

Woohyun couldn’t help but smile and chuckle as Sungjong complained to Sunggyu. It was obvious they were close. They acted like brothers, despite not being blood related. And although he wasn’t smiling, you could see the amusement in Sunggyu’s eyes as he playfully bantered with Sungjong.

Seeing the two react to each other like that…

It reminded him of the times he spent with his brother.

“Woohyun?” Sungjong called, he had an annoyed look on his face. No doubt still upset over Sunggyu’s actions. Sungyeol was gone, and Sunggyu had seemed to retreat back into the hallway, but he was watching him and Sungjong.

“Hm?” Woohyun got off the bed, stretching a little. He followed Sungjong out into the hallway, glancing at Sunggyu for a moment.

“You coming with us?”

“What do you mean?”

“To the planning room. If you’re up to it, wanna come with us on the mission too? I know you’re still recovering, but the mission won’t be dangerous at all. You’ll be fine. Plus, I’ll need some help collecting the supplies.”

“But,” Woohyun’s brows furrowed. “Why would you need me? There’s like fifty million people in INFINITE that could go, and it’s not like I’m a part of–”

“Did you forget already? I wasn’t just saying it to make you feel better,” Sungjong gestured for Woohyun to follow him and Sunggyu. “As long as you’re around, you’re a part of INFINITE. You’re a part of this big family, Woohyun.”

Woohyun eyes slightly widen at the words. It was true. Without knowing it, Woohyun became one with these people. Without trying, Woohyun had joined a rebel group, hell bent on winning their country back. From the moment Woohyun met Leeteuk, his life had been connected to those of INFINITE. From the moment he had said yes to Dongwoo, he had joined their cause.

Woohyun still wanted to go back home, to his own time. But the longer he spent here in 2862 SE, his chances and thoughts of getting back dwindled. Despite the very real danger he was in just by being associated with INFINITE, Woohyun didn’t regret his choices, his actions.

Woohyun nodded at Sungjong and Sunggyu. “Okay. I’ll join you guys.” Sungjong clapped a hand over his shoulder and steered him in the general direction of their planning room, laughing in Woohyun’s ear, telling him he had no choice anyway. The brunet ignored the weird looks passerby gave them as Sungjong talked his ear off. But he couldn’t ignore the small smile that was on Sunggyu’s face the entire time.

From the moment he had picked up that infinity necklace, his life had changed. Just like Sungjong said, for better or for worse, who knows? But he doesn’t regret meeting the members of INFINITE.

Dongwoo and Hoya.

L and Sungyeol and Sungjong.

Sunggyu.

He’s happy he’s met them.

He’s happy he’s met INFINITE.

It’s been a long time since it felt like he actually _belonged_.

It’s been a long time since he had people he could call _family_.


	24. The Briefing

Woohyuneyed everyone in the planning room: Sunggyu, Sungjong, L, and Sungyeol. The brunet was expecting some more people to show up, but they’ve been sitting in this room for almost an hour and nothing had happened.

Sunggyu was to his left, quietly reading over a few documents. He tried to get a glimpse of what was on the papers, but the gaze from Sunggyu told him that today was one of those days where avoiding Sunggyu would be beneficial– _physically_ –for him.

Sungjong was to his right, talking to L about some shit that Woohyun didn’t care about. It was obvious that L didn’t care either. He wasn’t even looking at Sungjong, but it was obvious the younger didn’t mind and kept going on and on.

Woohyun and the others were sitting down, surrounding a circular table. Maps and schematics of locations Woohyun didn’t know about littered the table. Across the table from him was Sungyeol. Like Sunggyu, the tall man was looking over some of the documents, mumbling to himself every now and again. There was a tablet in from of him, and from Woohyun’s viewpoint, images were flashing on the screen. Woohyun instantly recognized the device. It belonged to Kris.

The brunet groaned, slouching in his chair, “When you said that you were planning for your next mission, I was expecting a room filled with the best of the best when it comes to INFINITE,” he gestured wildly, accidentally hitting Sungjong in the back on the head. He ignored the glare from the younger because they didn’t scare him and were nothing like the looks Sunggyu gives him. He turned to Sunggyu, “I was expecting holographic images of the places you were planning on raiding to, like, be floating in the middle of the room. Where are the cool _science-y things_ , like in the movies, that the leader uses to get his point across, to make sure everyone on the team understands how detrimental this next mission is?”

Sunggyu didn’t even spare him a glance. He leaned forward, reaching for a marker in front of him. He then placed his documents on the table and began circling various spots on the map that was laid in front of Woohyun.

“Hey,” he reached for said man, wanting his questions answered, but the moment his hand was about to touch the older man, Sunggyu looked at him.

Woohyun felt the life in him disintegrate.

Sunggyu’s eyes practically screamed, ‘ _I dare you. I_ double _dare you to fucking touch me_.’ He quickly retracted his hand, giving the older a nervous chuckle. Sunggyu stared at the brunet for a moment before resuming his previous tasks.

Woohyun whined, slouching lower in his chair, kicking the leg of the table lightly. “ _Really_?” Sungyeol asked, scrunching up his face.

The brunet crossed his arms, looking at the boy across from him. He rose a brow as Sungyeol rolled his eyes at him. “How _old_ are you?” Sungyeol complained, obviously annoyed by Woohyun’s whining.

“ _Technically_ , old enough to be your fucking ancestor.” Woohyun heard a snort from L.

This was the second time Woohyun actually got to say a few words to the tech geek of INFINITE. He had passed by him a few times during his exploration of the headquarters, but Sungyeol always seemed like he was in his own world.

He was probably still a bit traumatized by Woohyun’s cooking.

“Physically.” Sungyeol seemed very adamant about knowing Woohyun’s age.

“Twenty-one.” Woohyun wondered what the date was. Woohyun wondered if he was close to his birthday.

“Interesting,” Sungyeol drawled, pushing up the red frames on his face a bit. “Based on what I read,” he pointed to the tablet. “It’s interesting how you made it into this time in one piece. Like, physically, it’s somewhat understandable, but mentally…” Sungyeol stood up suddenly, startling Woohyun. “You haven’t had a complete physical check-up since you came here, right? Let me–”

“Sit down, Sungyeol,” Sunggyu warned, not even looking up. Woohyun frowned, trying to understand what Sungyeol was getting at.

“Wait, I wanna do some experimenting on him–”

“Don’t even think about it,” Sunggyu sighed, putting his documents down.

“Although Dr. Wu only got a blood sample from this guy,” he picked up to the tablet. “There is still a lot of missing information on him. It didn’t help that a lot of stuff on him was somehow deleted. If I could–”

“You’re not laying a fucking finger on him, Sungyeol,” Sunggyu scowled. Woohyun could almost see fiery daggers from the pits of hell shoot from the leader’s eyes.

Woohyun slowly sat up in his chair, feeling sick at the thought of someone experimenting on him again.

Thoughts of his mother filled his mind. Where was she right now?

Thoughts of his brother filled his mind. How did he die?

He leaned forward, resting his head on the cool surface of the table, willing himself to stop thinking about his dead family members. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He heard Sungjong call his name, but he ignored him, closing his eyes.

He was so _tired_ of thinking about them.

“But it’s for science–” Sungyeol urged.

“Are you even _listening_ to yourself?”

“But _Sunggyu_ , imagine how much research I could get done! Imagine how much of the unknown I would discovered related to quantum–”

“ _You are not touching Woohyun_ , _and that’s final_.” Suggyu’s voice was dangerously low, each word sending unspoken threats towards Sungyeol.

Woohyun heard some shuffling before Sungyeol mumbled, “When did you become so _possessive_?” The brunet heard some more shuffling and then a loud crash with whimper coming from Sunyeol immediately afterwards.

Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder. “You alright?” Sunggyu asked. The hand on his shoulder was heavy and warm, and Woohyun felt a bit at ease from the action. Woohyun nodded, slowly sitting back up.

He opened his eyes, sighing quietly. All eyes were on him. Both Sunggyu and Sungjong were frowning; the brunet could almost _feel_ the concern for him coming from them. L’s expression was blank– _weirdo_. Sungyeol, on the other hand, was glaring at both him and Sunggyu. He was currently rubbing his face, a bruise already forming around his right eye.

“Okay,” Sunggyu said, changing the subject promptly. He glanced at Woohyun for a moment before continuing, “Enough with the talking and wasting time, let’s get this mission briefing over with already.” Woohyun felt his eye twitch at the statement; they all sat there for almost an hour, with him just looking at papers, and _he’s_ complaining that nothing had gotten done.

“We will be accomplishing two different tasks during this mission,” Sunggyu continued. “A medical and weapon supply raid, for Sungjong and Sungyeol, and a small reconnaissance mission in sector eight.”

“Eight?” Sungjong gasped, his brows furrowing. The other two members of INFINITE gave Sunggyu an apprehensive look as well. Woohyun gave them a confused look. Sector eight wasn’t too far from where they were when they were in the above portion of the BEQP. From what he remembered while they were in the elevator, sector seven was crowded with skyscrapers. Cars were zooming from here to there. The walkways that connected the buildings together were packed full with pedestrians. That was only sector seven, though. Eight was higher and considered even more advanced and prosperous. It couldn’t be that bad, right?

“Why eight?” L inquired, leaning forward, sifting through the documentss on the table till one labeled sector eight appeared. “Eight’s too close to YG. There would be no way we could get away with a raid and not attract some sort of attention.”

“I guess I should had worded it better then,” Sunggyu corrected himself. “Don't worry, I have an informant who lives in that sector. Plus, we have no other choice. Not too many other locations are available to us right now. We’re really low in supplies; there is no way we could take on another infiltration mission like the last one in our current state. We wouldn’t even be able to get past the front doors. We have close to zero working medical equipment and let’s not even talk about how we’re doing on weapons. We lost a lot when we were ambushed on the way to the broadcasting station.”

Sunggyu stood up and with a flick of his wrist, the lights in the room dimmed. Woohyun felt his eyes widen as a holographic 3-D image of a map appeared in front of them. It floated in the middle of the table, slowly spinning in a circle. The map was huge, and without anyone telling him, the brunet knew it was a map of South Hallow.

Just like what was told to him, South Hallow was split into 10 sectors, each sector sitting on top of each other. Based on what he was seeing, South Hallow itself wasn’t a big city, length-wise. But it was tall. The hologram extended all the way to the ceiling of the room.

“Here is where we are,” Sunggyu pointed, addressing Woohyun directly. He pointed to a small, blinking red dot close to the bottom of the map. “This is sector two, where we are located.” The leader’s finger hovered over the dot for a moment before the map shifted forms and a clearer image of the entrance to the warehouse in which the headquarters were situated under came into view.

“Woah,” Woohyun couldn’t help blurt out. He stood up, wanting to get a better view of the map. Sunggyu swished his hand to the right, and the map changed again. The brunet could see several destroyed buildings and streets come into view.

“Here is where we were ambushed by Tao and his mercenaries.”

“Everything is still in bad shape. Is this all in real time?”

“Yes,” Sunggyu nodded.

“How are you able to see all of this?”

“Special cameras have been placed all over the city to help us keep an eye on certain thing and situations, curtesy of _me_ , of course,” Sungyeol had a smirk on his face as he waved a device in his hand. It was in the shape of a cube, and Woohyun remembered the four-eyed freak using it to show everyone the news when he first arrived in the INFINITE headquarters. “The only sector that we don’t have access to is ten, unfortunately. Entering that sector is almost impossible. The security is so tight. I’ve been trying for years to hack into their systems but no luck.” He let out a heavy sigh, adjusting his glasses a bit.

Sunggyu suddenly pulled his hand back, and the map shifted again till all of South Hallow was shown once more. He pointed to the top of the city, and Woohyun noticed that one particular section of South Hallow was glowing a faint shade of blue. Two sectors above it was completely black and some parts seemed to be _missing_. That must’ve been sector ten. “That blue section is sector eight. I’ve been meaning to do some reconnaissance there for a while now, and since my informant, who is knowledgeable in medical and equipment whereabouts, is also situated in eight, I thought… What’s that old saying? _Why not kill two eagles with one Tyrannosaurus rex_!”

“Ah, I see– Wait, what?!” Woohyun sputtered.

“Your informant,” L interrupted Woohyun. “Is it Bi?” It was more of a statement. Sunggyu nodded, narrowing his eyes at the quiet man. _How did he know Bi?_ The caramel haired man shifted his hand down, and everything but sector eight disintegrated away. Eight became bigger, and Woohyun could actually see people walking to and fro, minding their own business.

“Bi?” Sungjong repeated. “Who…?”

“They call him Bi. His real name is Jung Jihoon, though,” Sunggyu informed. “He and I go way back. I did some stuff for him back in the day, and now he owes me big time. I’ve already contacted him and told him of our situation.”

“Can we trust him?” Woohyun asked. The situation and mission seemed simple enough, but he didn’t want to go through something like last time all over again.

“To be honest?” Sunggyu scratched his head, frowning. “Not really. But I have a lot of dirt on him. I made sure he couldn’t refuse me. We’ll go in, get the supplies, pay Bi, I’ll send you three,” he gestured to Woohyun, Sungyeol, and Sungjong, “back home, and L and I will finish up the rest with the recon. A simple mission that shouldn’t cause any problems. Plus, sector eight isn’t too heavy with security despite being so close to ten. We should be able to get in and out without any trouble.”

“Hm…” Woohyun sat back down, thinking over the situation. Like Sunggyu said, it sounded simple enough, but something in his gut told him something terrible was going to go wrong.

That or his was just constipated.

These days, it was hard to tell the difference for Woohyun.

“You don’t have to come,” Sunggyu said, turning to Woohyun. His usual glare plastered on his face. The brunet frowned at him, not liking the snippy tone and attitude Sunggyu just threw his way. The resistance leader sighed, rubbing his temples, realizing that he snapped at the younger unconciously.

“I didn’t _mean_ it like that. I just meant, it’s alright if you don’t want to come. It’s understandable, after everything that has happened. I really don’t want to put you in another dangerous situation. …sorry.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go…” Woohyun trailed off before gasping.

“ _Holy shit_ –” Sungjong stood up suddenly.

“Are you _kidding_ me?!” Sungyeol sat up in his chair.

L’s mouth was wide opened as he gaped at Sunggyu.

“ _What_?!” Sunggyu scrunched up his face, not liking how everyone was looking at him.

“ _Sunggyu_ …” Woohyun said, standing back up. He gave a small, shy smile towards to the elder. Sunggyu could had sworn there were tears in Woohyun’s eyes.

“W-What did I say–?” Before he could finish, Woohyun’s arms were wrapped around his shoulders, giving him a bone-crushing hug. Sunggyu cringed, not liking his personal space invaded.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to hear that?!” Woohyun dug his face into the crook of Sunggyu’s neck, sniffling loudly.

“ _Hear what_?” He tried to push Woohyun off of him, but the brunet was latched on to him like a leech.

“Seriously?” Sungyeol scowled. “If anyone deserves an apology, it’s the guy who now has a forming black eye!” He pointed to himself to emphasis his point.

“What do you–” The caramel haired man’s eyes widen, realizing the errors of his way. He must've been getting soft, allowing such a slip-up like that to happen.

Sunggyu took a deep breath, a frown morphing on his face. He glowered at the others, enjoying the way they all cowered away from him. He said slowly in a deep voice, addressing everyone, “You have _five_ seconds.”

“Huh?” Woohyun pulled away slightly, his arms still wrapped around Sunggyu.

“ _Five_.”

“Woohyun, run!” Sungjong screamed, pushing Sungyeol out of the way to get out of the room.

“ _Four_.”

“Move, bitch, get out the way,” Woohyun glanced over his shoulders, watching L knee a random member of INFINITE in the stomach because he was standing in the doorway, peering into the room.

“ _Three_.”

Woohyun looked back to Sunggyu, gulping. He heard Sungyeol crying in the background, calling for his mother.

“ _Two._ ”

Woohyun took a step back away from Sunggyu, his hands up in front of him in a defensive maneuver. “Listen, Sunggyu, I didn’t mean–”

“ _One._ ”

 

Dongwoo shook his head as he felt the walls tremble around him while eating a sandwich in the kitchen. A familiar cry rang through the hallways, followed by the usual, “Nam Woohyun!”


	25. An Everlasting Thought

A smile stretched across Woohyun’s face as he stuck his head out of the window. The view was magnificent. The wind whipped through his hair. The sound of cars honking and zipping back and forth along with them was exhilarating. The brunet had a clear view of the sunset orange sky with the sun high above them. They were so high up in the sectors, and yet everything around him seemed to go on and on, both up into the sky and down below. He had never seen anything this amazing.

Woohyun pulled back into the car, giggling. He almost felt giddy with excitement. Everything he was seeing now was a nice change of scenery from the usual dark and desolate streets of the lower sectors of South Hallow. The brunet glanced to his left; Sunggyu was behind the wheel, next to him, a small smile playing on his lips. Woohyun then glanced through the rearview mirror of the car they were all in, looking at Sungyeol, L, and Sungjong, who were in the backseat.

L was gazing out of the window quietly. His face was expressionless, but Woohyun could see the eagerness shining in his eyes. Sungjong was in the middle, humming loudly to himself, swaying back and forth slightly in his seat. Sungyeol’s face was plastered to the window, pointing to various buildings and places that he had recognized or been to before. Apparently, Sungyeol was originally from sector seven, like Sungjong, so he was familiar with many of the sights that they were all seeing here and there.

It was obvious to Woohyun that everyone was enjoying themselves. It was obvious that they haven’t traveled this far into South Hallow together before. Woohyun was even surprised that Sunggyu seemed to be enjoying himself as they flew through the streets of sector eight.

The rebellion leader wasn’t lying when he had said that they could easily get into sector eight without any difficulty. A couple of days after the briefing, the INFINITE members piled into a car and journeyed towards sector eight. Once they reached sector four, the car suddenly took off from the ground and into the air.

To this day, Woohyun continued to deny the very _unmanly_ scream he released, clutching onto Sunggyu’s arm as the car flew through the sky.

“We’re almost there,” Sunggyu said, pressing a couple of buttons that adorned the dashboard. And then, suddenly, a holographic display appeared between him and Woohyun. It was a map of sector eight again, but much more detailed. It was like he was looking at a bird’s-eye-view of the sector below. Sunggyu’s fingers hovered over the display as Woohyun felt the car slowly deviate from traffic. Two blinking dots appeared on the display. One was red, and the other was blue. The red dot was quickly moving on the map, approaching the other. Woohyun assumed that they were the moving red dot.

“Even if we got into sector eight relatively easily, stay on guard everyone,” Sunggyu ordered. Everyone nodded. The easy-going ambiance that the car had earlier was now gone; it grew edgy. Woohyun gripped his seatbelt with nervousness, his knuckles turning pale white.

Nothing bad was supposed to happen. The objective was to go in, pick up the supplies, and then go home with Sungjong and Sungyeol while Sunggyu and L finished up the rest. Woohyun was already looking forward to the return trip back home. He couldn’t wait till he stepped back in the safe comforts of the headquarters.

Woohyun’s eyes widen at his thought process.

_Home_.

When did the INFINITE headquarters become a haven for Woohyun?

When did he begin to see it as a refuge from this harsh world?

Was it when Sungjong said that he belonged with them, that he was a part of INFINITE? No, it’s felt like a home long before then. It wasn’t the headquarters itself that made it felt like a place he could return to whenever; it was the people, the people of INFINITE, who made it feel like home. Sunggyu made it feel like home.

When Sunggyu saved his life, it wasn’t just his _life_ that was rescued.

Those words he uttered to Woohyun, _I’ll never let go_.

Sunggyu may had just said it to ease Woohyun’s mind since he was _literally_ hanging on to dear life outside of the elevator, but to Woohyun, those words meant a lot.

It was a promise.

He had promise to never let go, and Woohyun held that promise dear to his heart. That was the first time Woohyun saw past Sunggyu’s strong bravado and cold façade. The brunet didn’t comment on it back then, but he could tell that Sunggyu was just as scared as Woohyun was as he held onto the latter. Woohyun had never felt that scared in his life before, but Sunggyu’s words gave him strength.

Sunggyu may be harsh and unnecessarily angry with Woohyun majority of the times, but he had not once stopped protecting him, looking out for him. Woohyun was grateful for everything the older man has done for him so far.

The way he defended him against Kris when he was being tortured showed that the man actually had a heart, that he had cared about those around him. When Sungjong declared that he was a part of INFINITE, Sunggyu didn’t refute that statement. Sunggyu accepted him just like the rest of them. He had even let him sit in on the mission briefing, explaining to Woohyun about this and that about South Hallow. In a weird twisted way, Woohyun thought, Sunggyu may actually care for the brunet. Just a little, though. Care in a _friendly_ way, of course.

Woohyun was forever in Sunggyu’s debt.

Like Sungjong said, Sunggyu was like the father of INFINITE. He could see what Sungjong meant. He made INFINITE feel like home.

Woohyun gave a small smile at the thought, his grip on the seatbelt loosened. Just thinking about all the things Sunggyu has done for him made him feel a bit relieved despite the situation.

“Are you just going to sit there all day with that creepy ass smile on your face or are you coming?” Sunggyu bitched, pulling the brunet out of his thoughts.

Woohyun blinked, realizing that the car was no longer in the air. They had landed in an empty, dark alley. The buildings around him were so colossal that he could barely see the sky. Barely any sunlight filtered onto the streets.

“Am I going to have to break your nose again to get you to listen to me?” Sunggyu exhaled, knocking on the passenger side window. The brunet jumped at the action, surprised to see everyone already outside, waiting for him. The brunet apologized, quickly getting out of the car.

“Bi’s place isn’t too far from him. No more than a ten minute walk,” Sunggyu explained, his voice low. He kept glancing at the entrance to the alleyway. A few people walked by the alley, but none paid enough attention to see the members of INFINITE looking conspicuous. “I didn’t want to park too close for in case it gained unnecessary attention, but not too far for in case we need to make a quick getaway.”

“Ah,” Sungjong exclaimed suddenly. “Before we go,” he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and attempted to shove them onto Woohyun’s face. He accidentally stabbed Woohyun in the eye a couple of times. “Since you’re our local terrorist, Woohyun, and your face is plastered all over the city, we need to hide your identity!” He pulled on the hood of the jacket Woohyun was wearing–courtesy of Dongwoo–and forced it on Woohyun’s head haphazardly. When the youngest member of the group was done messing with him, Woohyun fixed the hood and glasses, tucking in some of his hair that was sticking out from under the hood.

“Let’s hurry up and get to this Bi guy’s place!” Sungyeol complained. “I want to get my hands on some of that new merchandise!” As everyone piled out of the alleyway, a hand on Woohyun’s shoulder stopped his movement.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu called. Woohyun turned to him, raising his brow at the older man. The others continued on, not paying the two of them much attention. “I want you to have this.”

Sunggyu pulled a gun from out of one of his many holsters that decorated his fancy– _lies_ –getup. Whoever told Sunggyu that wearing a sleeveless black vest with a side buttoned shirt underneath and a ginormous orange scarf on top was fashionable should die.

“Keep this on you, okay. Nothing should happen, but you never know in these kinds of situations. You remember everything I taught you, right?” Sunggyu handed the gun to Woohyun. The brunet’s hands shook nervously; he wasn’t fond of them. He eyed the weapon with apprehension.

Woohyun swallowed the lump in his throat, gripping the gun tighter. “Um …yeah,” he whispered. He looked to Sunggyu, still not really knowing what to do with it. He frowned, his brows furrowing.

Sunggyu sighed, “Just put it in your holster.” Woohyun quickly did as he was told, happy that Dongwoo attached a holster to his belt after letting the younger wear his clothes again. He didn’t feel comfortable walking around with a gun in his hand, like Sunggyu does ninety percent of the time.

The caramel haired man leaned forward, making sure that the gun was latched in Woohyun’s holster correctly before patting his shoulder and leaving him behind to catch up to the others. Woohyun gave a small frown, eyeing the weapon on his side before jogging to catch up to Sunggyu.

“Oh, and one more thing, Woohyun,” Sunggyu said as Woohyun caught up to the rebel leader. “ _Please, for the love of God_ , try _not_ to shoot one of us. I don’t want another incident like the one you had with Hoya on the last mission.” Woohyun’s face flushed red with embarrassment. He wondered if Hoya was still a little upset with him over that.

Sunggyu’s complaints died down once the two of them caught up to the other three. Everyone grew tensed and quiet as they walked among the citizens of sector eight. The streets outside of the alley wasn’t particularly crowded, but Woohyun hadn’t seen this many people around him since he had first gotten here. Seeing the normal citizens of South Hallow up this close was quite an interesting experience.

The fashion that everyone wore was very similar to that of what he has seen the members of INFINITE wear. Everyone was wearing very dull, muted colors. If they weren’t wearing some sort of suit, they were wearing vests and trench coats, _martial arts_ attire and aviator gear. Some even looked like they came from straight out of the mid 1900s and were about to go on an adventure through the amazon jungle or go and loot the burial sites of famous Egyptian pharaohs from the past.

The only majority difference that Woohyun noticed between the members of INFINITE and the people of sector eight was that none of the citizens looked like that crawled out of the slums like INFINITE did. These people _looked_ like they came from wealth. It was something about the way they presented themselves and their auras as they made their way down the streets. Woohyun wondered why Sunggyu, Sungyeol, and Sungjong didn’t appear that way since the three of them had originally been from the upper sectors.

“And we’re here,” Sunggyu announced, stopping in front of a tall high-rise apartment building. Woohyun looked up, trying to see how tall it was, but the building kept going on and on that the clouds began to cover it.

“Bi lives in this place?” L mused. “For someone that illegally sells weapon manufacturing goods and medical supplies, I would expect him to live in a much more rundown looking place. But then again, it is sector eight.”

“Bi has a lot of connections and has a lot of black mail worthy information on many of the higher ups in YG that he able to live in such a nice environment and get away with the shit that he does,” Sunggyu frowned, walking into the building. The others followed.

The lobby of the building was surprisingly empty, and Woohyun wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He was happy that there weren’t any security guards to question them on arrival, but the lack of people didn’t sit well with him.

“Lucky for us, he only lives on the fifth floor.” Sunggyu stopped in front of the elevators, pressing the up button. It didn’t take long for it to show up. Woohyun felt a bit nauseous walking into the elevator. His last experience with one didn’t turn out so well. Apparently, Sunggyu felt the same way, for he made sure Woohyun was nowhere near the windows in the back.

Once they reached the fifth floor, the members of INFINITE quietly followed their leader to the last door on the left at the end of the hallway. Before Sunggyu could even lift a hand to knock, the door swung wide open.

A tall man was standing in the doorway. He was wearing a simple form fitting sleeveless shirt and sweatpants, revealing tigt muscles. There wasn’t much to imagine as Woohyun eyed the man’s clothes and how they almost seem to be one with his skin. The man had short black hair with tints of brown to it. It was spiked up in the front, revealing a wrinkled forehead.

The man eyed everyone in the hallway briefly before focusing on Sunggyu. Without uttering a word, he stepped to the side, gesturing everyone to walk in. The moment Woohyun stepped through the doorway, he took off his shades, stuffing them in his pocket. Woohyun briefly wondered how he didn’t catch anyone’s attention with how suspicious he had looked.

“It’s been a long time, Sunggyu,” the man greeted, shutting and locking the door. “You haven’t changed since the last time we saw each other.”

“I wished I could say the same, Bi,” Sunggyu frowned, looking the man up and down.

“Just as mean as I remember,” he feigned hurt, placing a hand over his heart.

“Listen, Bi, we don’t have all day.”

“I know, I know, but I don’t have them yet, though. The shipment is on its way. I have some of my most trusted men transporting it right now. Give or take two hours, alright?” Bi informed, walking past everyone and further into the apartment.

Woohyun had never been in such a fancy looking apartment before. Even in his own time, he had never stepped foot in such a place. He felt like his presence alone was dirtying up the apartment.

“Bi…” Sunggyu growled, not liking the man’s answers.

“Sorry, Sunggyu, but you can’t place the blame on me!” He made his way into the kitchen that overlooked into the living room, digging into his refrigerator. “You didn’t give me enough time for it to already be here. You’re lucky we’re good friends, or else I would had hung up on you the minute you called.”

“Yeah right,” Sunggyu tsked under his breath, crossing his arms.

“For the meantime, make yourselves at home!” He gave them all a big smile, waving his arms.

L leaned up against the wall by the door, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Sungjong made a beeline into living room. Woohyun could hear and practically _feel_ the sigh coming from the younger as he loudly crashed onto the couch. Woohyun peeked over the furniture and saw him draped across the couch dramatically. A couple of moments later, Woohyun saw the TV turning on.

“Do you have the list of all the supplies you will be giving us? I would like to go over it.” Sungyeol said, adjusting the frames on his face. Bi nodded, rummaging through the kitchen drawers before sliding a packet of papers across the kitchen island in front of him. Sungyeol snatched the papers without even a word of gratitude and followed Sungjong into the living room and sitting in one of the chairs.

“So, Sunggyu, are you going to introduce me to your crew? I don’t think I’ve even met anyone from INFINITE.” He gave a friendly smile to Sunggyu, but Woohyun could see how utterly fake it was. The man was trying to dig up some info on them.

“No, I’m not,” Sunggyu replied, not being fooled by the smile either.

“Aw,” the man pouted. “I think I should at least know who I am working with.”

“Don’t care.”

“Man, some things _truly_ never change. Just as cold as ever, Sunggyu.” Bi stopped prodding the man for information and leaned back against the counters in the kitchen, chugging down what looked to be an energy drink. Sunggyu glanced down at his watch before turning to Woohyun.

“I’ll be outside on watch,” he quickly left the apartment, not giving Woohyun much of a chance to respond. The brunet stood in between the living room and the kitchen awkwardly, not knowing what to do with himself at the moment.

They had about two hours to kill before the shipment arrived. What did the citizens of South Hallow do to kill the time in situations like these?

“So,” Bi started, gaining Woohyun's attention. “You new or something?”

“What do you mean?” Woohyun asked, walking up to the kitchen island. There were high chairs in front of it. Woohyun sat down.

“Well, compared to the others,” he gestured to the other guys. “You don’t really look like you fit in. You don’t look like a member of INFINITE.” The brunet did _not_ enjoyed the way the man’s eyes leered on him.

“Ah, well,” Woohyun laughed awkwardly. “I guess you could say that. I’m the newest member…” Bi hummed, leaning forward, resting his elbows against the kitchen island counter. Woohyun could smell the older man’s cologne. It was revolting.

It smelled like wet dog.

It took all of Woohyun’s strength to not vomit up everything he had for breakfast that morning.

“How old are you, kid?”

“Twenty-one,” Woohyun wondered what Bi’s reaction would be if he told him his real age.

“Young, so very young,” he gave Woohyun an off-putting smile. “I’m thirty, if you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.” Normally, Woohyun tried to be nice to everyone he met and not judge them, but Bi’s disgusting cologne was giving him a headache, and the filter on his brain was shriveling away.

“Ooh, you’re just as cruel as Sunggyu!” Despite the complaint, he still had that nasty smile on his face. “Want a drink?”

“No–” A drink was placed in front of him, and Bi somehow made his way around the island and sat next to Woohyun in a matter of a couple of seconds.

Why did he always get himself into these sorts of situations?

Woohyun took a deep breath, closing his eyes. His tolerance for this man was becoming very thin.

Bi put his arm on the back of Woohyun’s chair, leaning into the boy’s personal space. Woohyun squeezed his eyes tighter when he _felt_ Bi sniff his hair.

“ _Mmm, strawberries_ … Listen, my young friend–”

“I’m not your friend–”

He whispered; his breath reeked of shit. “You are so beautiful that I want to be reincarnated as your child so that I can be breastfed by you until I'm twenty.”

_Fuck this shit._

Woohyun swallowed all the insults he could think of and gave a nasty glare to older man.

 Sunggyu would be proud of him.

The brunet stood up, successfully ignoring the protests from Bi, and walked to the front door. He needed to get out there before Bi went flying through the window, plummeting to his death.

“Where are you going?” L asked as Woohyun opened the door.

“Just need some air.”

“Don’t go too far. I’m sure our leader wouldn’t want you wandering off. Who knows who could be watching, waiting to snatch up the little time traveler.” Woohyun brows furrowed, eyeing the man before leaving the apartment.

Woohyun sighed loudly, already feeling better the moment he stepped foot out into the hallway. What was up with that guy? Could he be any creepier? What kind of people did Sunggyu associate himself with? Woohyun hoped that Sunggyu didn’t ally himself with anymore creepy-ass weapons/medical dealers.

Woohyun took the elevator back down to the lobby, wanting to get out of the building at least. When he walked outside, he saw Sunggyu sitting down on a bench next to a streetlamp. The young man had a vacant look on his face, staring off into the distance.

The brunet felt himself walk over to Sunggyu before his brain could register, and he was momentarily at a loss for words when he stood in front of the caramel haired man. Sunggyu raised a brow at him but did not speak. Woohyun gave an awkward smile, scratching his head.

“M-May I sit here?” Woohyun stuttered, gesturing to the empty seat next to Sunggyu. The latter nodded, glancing at the brunet before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Woohyun sat down, slouching in his chair a bit. He crossed his arms, tucking his hands in as the sky gradually turned a darker shade of sunset. The air grew crisped. Woohyun wondered if South Hallow had seasons. If they did, which one were they in now? “It’s getting cold out here,” Woohyun mumbled, zipping up his hoodie halfway.

Sunggyu grunted in agreement. “It’s going to be a while before the supplies get here. Maybe you should go back in with the others.”

“No, that’s okay. It felt stuffy in there. And plus, Bi was starting to give me the creeps.”

“Same. When I first met him, he would try to flirt with everyone and _everything_ he met. It was creepy and disgusting. Don’t be surprised when he starts hitting on you,” Sunggyu warned, sitting up and looking to Woohyun. Faint amusement flickered briefly across his eyes.

“Too late!” Woohyun shivered at the thought. “He looks old enough to be my grandpa. He’s so fucking creepy! I wanted to punch his fucking face off after what he said to me,” his face scrunched up cutely. Sunggyu chuckled at him. He leaned back against the bench, his shoulder bumping against Woohyun.

"What did he say?"

“You don't even want to know! If he hits on me again,” the brunet continued. “I fully expect you to come to my rescue,” he joked.

“ _Okay_ ,” Sunggyu snorted lightly.

“I’m being totally serious!” Woohyun grinned.

“Okay, okay! If Bi or any old man ever comes and attempts to seduce you, I’ll just punch the living daylights out of ‘em.”

“I’ll hold you to that!” Woohyun faintly laughed, leaning against Sunggyu slightly. Sunggyu laughed along with him, giving the brunet a brilliant smile.

Woohyun gave a bright smile in return, delighted in the fact that he had caught Sunggyu smiling again. He felt elated that it was directed at _him_. The way Sunggyu’s eyes disappeared and how his cheeks bunched up as his smile grew more stunning made Woohyun’s heart pulsate in ways it had never done before.

As their quiet laughs died down, they both fell into a comfortable silence. Not many people were out and about anymore. The streetlights turned on one by one despite the sky still being a beautiful shade of orange.

The brunet sat up properly, leaning forward a bit and untucking his arms. His looked up, his gaze falling upon the skies above. The eventide of the sky was gorgeous. The sun was setting, and the sky was still turning a deep orange. The sunset was blinding, but Woohyun couldn’t look away. It was absolutely gorgeous. But not as spectacular as what he just witnessed.

Sunggyu had a _breathtaking_ smile.


	26. Garden of Memories

”Catch!” Sunggyu heard, and suddenly, a small, shiny object came flying his way. The young man caught it with ease. He eyed the item in his hand. It was a silver necklace in the shape of the ‘Infinity’ symbol. Sunggyu held the pendant in front of him, twirling it slightly.

The symbol itself reminded him of the orphanage he grew up in.

“What is this?” Sunggyu asked, raising a brow at the blond, who came running towards him.

“It’s called a necklace!” The blond laughed.

“I’m being serious, Himchan.”

“It’s what Dr. Wu made me wear during the mission. It’s made of adamantine,” Himchan answered, leaning against the wall. They were in a small corridor that led to the test labs on the fifth floor of the underground portion of the BEQP.

“Adamantine? I’ve never heard of that before…” He mimicked Himchan’s posture, leaning against the wall as well, his gaze never leaving the pendant.

Himchan had left a note on his bed, telling him to meet him there later on that evening. Apparently, he had something important to tell the teenager. Nothing was specified in the note except the strict orders of not telling Yongguk about this meetup.

It was almost close to midnight and not many BEQP employees were still roaming the halls. The few that were still there didn’t questioned why Himchan and Sunggyu were in the restricted corridors of the fifth floor, though. They were both high-ranking soldiers, and Himchan was often seen down here for his missions that were related to Dr. Wu’s research.

“Why do you need to wear this?” Sunggyu asked, tilting his head. He raised the pendant higher till it sparkled from the ceiling lights behind. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from it. He felt some sort of invisible pull towards it.

“I don’t know the specifics, but apparently, this metal is made up of special components. According to Dr. Wu, in order for one to–,” Himchan eyed the surroundings for a moment, making sure no one was around before whispering, “ _travel_ , one must carry an object from the period they want to travel in order for the results to be correct. And if one wants to return to their own time, they must carry something that is unique to his. Or something along the lines of that. It sounded like a bunch of bullshit to me. In his theory, there is supposed to be a lot of other factors that would allow an individual to travel, but– _Hey!_ Are you even listening to me?!” Himchan punched Sunggyu’s arm, forcing a whine out of the teenager.

“I was!” He finally looked away from the pendant, rubbing his arm. He frowned at the blond.

“Whatever,” Himchan rolled his eyes, snatching the necklace out of Sunggyu’s hands. He stuffed it in his pockets.

“Why did you bring me down here, Himchan?” Now that his attention wasn’t on the pendant, he rubbed his eyes, yawning slightly. He was so tired. He had been doing drills and teaching the new trainees non-stop for the past week and a half. It took all of his willpower to come down here and meet up with his close friend.

“I never got around to telling you the full details of my mission,” Himchan mumbled, eyeing their surroundings again. “Technically, I’m not supposed to talk about the contents of Project K.O.T, but I need to talk to _someone_ , Sunggyu.”

The redhead crossed his arms, observing Himchan’s silently. Something was obviously bothering the soldier. He looked stressed and nervous. His eyes kept flickering back and forth, eyeing their surroundings. He kept tapping his foot in what seemed to be a nervous tick. He looked smaller since the last time he had seen him. It’s only been a week since he had gotten back and yet the bags under his eyes were noticeable. And he was pale, so very pale. Had he been eating?

“Why not tell your boyfriend?”

“Hm,” Himchan was quiet for a moment. “He wouldn’t understand,” he hesitantly answered. “Yongguk… Yongguk… Yongguk is a soldier. He wouldn’t understand.”

“And what does that make me and you?”

“He wouldn’t understand, Sunggyu,” he repeated himself.

“Well, _I_ don’t understand,Himchan,” Sunggyu sighed, rubbing his temples. He was forming a headache. He didn't have time for this cryptic bullshit. He really needed to head back to his quarters and get some rest; he had an early start tomorrow.  _Again_.

“Yongguk is a good man, but,” Himchan trailed off again. He stared at the ground, his foot still tapping.

“He isn’t,” Sunggyu frowned, not liking the way Himchan kept hesitating. “… _hurting you,_ is he?”

“No,” Himchan looked up to Sunggyu, his eyes widening. “Where did you even get that idea from?!” He glared at the redhead.

“Then what’s the problem, Himchan? What’s going on that you can’t tell Yongguk about?”

“We may all be soldiers, but Yongguk isn’t like me. He isn’t like you,” Himchan sighed. “Yongguk is the prime example of the kind of soldiers South Hallow produces. Strong and capable. He follows orders to the T without a second thought. If he was instructed to go and kill you in order to prove his loyalty to YG, he wouldn’t hesitant, even if you guys are good friends. Yongguk is _that_ kind of solider.”

Sunggyu pushed himself off the wall, his arms falling to his sides. “What are you trying to say?” It was just a whisper, but it echoed in the empty hallway. The redhead swallowed thickly. There was no lie in that statement, though. Yongguk wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. Sunggyu, on the other hand, though. He couldn’t even imagine pulling the trigger.

“Sunggyu, we’re– _you’re not that kind of soldier_. I see it in your eyes while we’re out in the field. I see it during mission briefings. I see it when we’re addressed by our commanding officers.” Himchan took a shaky breath, “You know what we _do here_ isn’t right. This… this war, the killings, the kidnappings… this isn’t right, and you know it. I know it. _We both know it._ I can see it in your eyes how much this,” he waved his arms, emphasizing his point. “…bothers you. We’re not soldiers; we’re just a bunch a mindless killing machines–”

“Stop,” Sunggyu uttered harshly.

“Sunggyu, listen to me–”

“I don’t know what this last mission did to you, but you need to snap out of it. Are you even listening to what you’re saying?”

“How is killing innocent people right?” Himchan yelled. “How is killing _our_ innocent people right? Please explain that to me, Sunggyu!”

“Lower your voice, Himchan. Are you insane? You need to watch what you’re saying.” Sunggyu placed a shaky hand on blond’s shoulder.  He was afraid. He was afraid of what Himchan was saying.

He was afraid because it was the truth.

Sunggyu wasn’t blind.

“I don’t care. I don’t care anymore. Not after what I saw, what I experienced,” Himchan laughed, the amusement absent from his voice. He pressed a hand to his heart, taking a deep breath. “Sunggyu, you should had seen it, what that place, that world, that… _time_ looked like. It was beautiful. It was… peaceful. Do you even know what that word _means_? Can you even imagine what a world where there was no fighting is like? A world where conflict was dealt with in a peaceful way. A world where you didn’t have to constantly watch you own back, afraid that you might die in any moment…”

“…where is all this coming from?”

“You and I, Sunggyu, we’re not just soldiers. We’re people; we’re humans. We’re not like them. We’re not blind. This government is toxic. It’s a parasite, and it’s killing us from the inside. They need to be stopped. YG needs to be–”

The fist slamming into the wall an inch from his head startled Himchan, cutting him off. He could feel the wall give way slightly behind. He blinked, taking in Sunggyu’s appearance. The redhead was breathing harshly, scowling at him. Sunggyu clenched his teeth, ignoring the pain that shot up his arm. His hand was warm and numb, and he knew he was bleeding.

He took a shaky breath, uttering lowly, “Last time I checked, we’re both soldiers. Last time I checked, I was you’re superior. I don’t want to sound like a pretentious asshole, but choose your words wisely, Himchan. Do you even understand what you’re _implicating_ here? Don’t make me report you for treason.”

And Sunggyu meant it. He cared for Himchan; he really did. He was like a younger brother to him. They’ve both been looking out for each other since their trainee days, Yongguk included, but with Sunggyu’s status and how all eyes were on him constantly, Sunggyu couldn’t get away with the childish acts he used to commit when he was younger. Like anyone in his rank, he had to be careful with those around him, even friends and close allies; he couldn’t let his guard down. If anyone were to implicate something dangerous or become a threat to his government, he would have to take action.

“Go ahead,” Himchan smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. Sunggyu couldn’t remember the last time Himchan gave him a _real_ smile. “What’s the worse they could do? Kill me? Torture me? Experiment on me? I would take that over what we’re forced to do every god damn day in this country.” Sunggyu pulled away, realizing that he wasn’t lying.

“Himchan,” he took a couple of steps back from the blond. He was so scared. “What has happened to you?” He whispered, running his uninjured hand through his hair. He was _so_ scared. The stuff coming out of Himchan’s mouth was enough to get him shot on the spot and have Sunggyu killed for simply being associated to him. _He was so scared_. Everything that came out of his mouth was the truth.

He wasn’t blind.

He wasn’t naïve.

He wasn’t ignorant.

He was so scared, though. The implications Himchan were making had crossed his mind on a number of occasions. _But he just was so scared._

“I opened my eyes,” Himchan said, grabbing his bleeding hand. He mumbled, rubbing the hand affectionately, “You’re so hot-tempered. You should really learn how to control this anger. I’m sure your future boyfriend wouldn’t like you intimidating them and glaring at them all the time, huh?” He gave a small laugh before pulling on Sunggyu, forcing the redhead to follow him down the hall.

The young man didn’t have the strength to stop the blond. He felt sick to his stomach. He felt like he could vomit.

“I really think you would like that world, Sunggyu,” Himchan mused. “It’s a shame you were born in this time. Kids, like you, shouldn’t have to grow up in a world like this.”

“I’m older than you, though.” Sunggyu mumbled.

“I’m more mature.” He wasn’t going to fight him on that. Himchan hasn’t told a single lie this entire time.

“Where are you taking me?” Was all Sunggyu could say. He was so tired, but he didn’t think he would be able to get any sleep tonight. Despite everything, it was good that he was the one Himchan went to talk to about this.

Yongguk would had probably killed him, even if he was in love with the man.

“I want you to meet my friend.” Himchan said no more till they reached the large double doors at the end of the long corridor. He inputted the code into the keypad that was next to the doors, and they slowly slid opened. The smell of anesthetic instantly infiltrated Sunggyu's senses. The room they walked into looked like that of one of the infirmaries on their military base, but many of the ginormous equipment that occupied the room was unfamiliar to the redhead.

“Where–?” Himchan released his hand, walking further into the room.

“This is the lab I’ve been coming to for the last couple months. Dr. Wu has been giving me my treatments here.”

“Treatments?”

“It’s not very easy going back and forth from the present to the past, you know,” he gave Sunggyu a painful smile, rubbing his inner elbow. The redhead assumed that that was where most of the _treatments_ occurred. “The good doctor believes one must be _physically_ prepared to travel.” His voice was laced with sarcasm.

“Himchan? Is that you?” A weak voice called, startling Sunggyu. He thought they were the only ones in here. His brows furrowed, looking to where the voice was coming from. Himchan gestured for the other to follow him as he made his way to the back of the labs. There was a small section closed off by some curtains. When they approached, Himchan pulled the curtains back.

Sunggyu’s eyes widen. There was a young man, lying in an infirmary bed. He had short, brown hair and was wearing a beige hospital gown. Many tubes were inserted into his deathly pale skin. There was too many to count. Sunggyu didn't want to know what all the multi-colored fluids that were being inserted into the boy's body meant.

“Himchan,” the young man gave a small smile. “You’re back again?” He sat up, trying to adjust himself into a comfortable position. Himchan rushed to his side, helping him. Sunggyu’s stomach twisted uncomfortably at the ways the tubes injected in the boy moved along with him. Sunggyu felt like he was going to vomit again.

“Remember when I said I would introduce you to my friend?” He pulled two chairs up next to the bed. He gestured for Sunggyu to sit next to him. The redhead didn’t move, though. He recognized the boy.

The day Himchan returned back from his mission, Sunggyu had been in the labs, giving a report to Dr. Kim Joonmyun. He passed by another lab, similar to this, where _this same boy_ , who was in front of him, was in being surrounded by many scientists. He was confused. Who was this boy? Why was he here?

The young man coughed before, turning to the redhead. “You must be Sunggyu, right? Himchan has told me a lot about you.”

Sunggyu frowned at his friend.

“Sunggyu, this is the boy I mentioned to you before, the one I brought back with me from the past.”

“Hello,” he greeted. “My name is Boohyun.”


	27. Infinite

"How did you come up with the name INFINITE?” Woohyun asked, leaning back against the bench. He turned to Sunggyu, giving him a curious look.

The caramel haired man slouched in his spot slightly, looking up at the sky. He crossed his arms. He was quiet for moment; a look of contemplation formed on his face. No one had ever actually asked him that before. “Well,” he started. “The name itself, INFINITE, I didn’t come up with myself. It was my grandparents.”

“Really? Your grandparents were in INFINITE?!” Sunggyu rolled his eyes at the look of astonishment on Woohyun’s face. “You have the most badass grandparents I’ve ever heard of!”

Sunggyu snorted, “No, they weren’t in _my_ INFINITE _._ ” Woohyun pouted, obviously disappointed with the leader’s answers. “Back before YG took over South Hallow, when the city was calm and peaceful and not at war with other lands, my grandparents ran in orphanage in a small part of the city of what is now known as sector ten. My mother was one of the orphans who grew up there.

“They weren’t my real grandparents, but we were close. They were family to me. And when they grew too old to run the place, my mom took over. She was one of the first kids they took care of. And she was the only one who had stayed even when she was old enough to move out of the home. When she had me, I grew up in the orphanage as well. Most of the times, I was the oldest among all the orphans, so they always looked up to me. It was really annoying at times, ‘cause I had to share my mom with all these other little kids. A lot of the times, I was lonely, but she would always manage to squeeze some times in just to be with me.” Sunggyu quietly sighed. It had been a long time since he had last thought of his mother.

“That must’ve been an interesting childhood, growing up in an orphanage but not actually being one. Were any of the kids ever envious of you, the only one among them that actually had a parent?”

“Some, I think. But none of them ever said anything. They were probably too scared to say anything because they knew I could beat their asses.” Woohyun chuckled at that.

"Is she still around?"

Sunggyu shook his head. That was a whole other story that he didn't have the heart to go into at the moment.

“My mom, she did a lot for the neighborhood. She was great. I remember her taking in all kinds of kids. Everyone loved her: the kids, the new parents, the neighbors. Everyone. I don’t remember my grandparents that much, though. They both passed away when I was still really young, but I remember my grandpa explaining to me the meaning behind INFINITE.

"Infinite is limitless; it is endless. It’s impossible to measure. It goes on and on. They created Infinite, the orphanage, so that kids, regardless of their background, their story, would always have a home to go to, to return to. They wanted Infinite to be forever there, endless. No matter what would happen to these kids in the future, Infinite would always be standing. It would be their sanctuary. They wanted Infinite to have unlimited potential, to be a home for the kids of South Hallow forever and ever.

“For some reason, that explanation always stuck with me.” Sunggyu ran a hand through his hair, glancing at the brunet next to him. He was quiet, listening to Sunggyu intently, eyes focused on him. He looked back to the sky. “When I left the military and created this group, my grandparents, my mom, my _home_ , they were some of the main reasons why I went up against YG. The government took a lot from me. Not just _them_ ; they even took away the people I cared about the most while I was a soldier. Everyone that I have ever cared about had been killed, and I wanted revenge. I wanted the government of South Hallow to know how toxic they were to their own people, _to us_. I wanted them to know what they did and know _who_ was behind it.

"When the pedestal that YG and followers stand upon began to crack and crumble beneath them, I want them to know that it was INFINITE that was responsible for it. No matter how many encounters they have with us, no matter how many times they knock us down, we will keep coming back. We are endless. They will never be able to put an end to us. We are boundless. We are fathomless. I took the concept of my grandparent’s home, my mother’s home, _my home_ … and the dreams and hopes of my best friend and constructed INFINITE, the resistance group hell-bent on fighting this corrupted government and winning our country back.”

Sunggyu took a deep, shaky breath, feeling the anger course through his veins. YG took so much from him: his comrades, his family, and the people of South Hallow. He would never forgive them. He would never give up till this war he had with them was over.

A hand rested on his thigh, and Sunggyu almost forgot Woohyun was there, sitting next to him. He looked to the young man. He had a soft smile on his face. He didn’t say anything, but Sunggyu understood. Woohyun’s presence was calming for him at times like this.

Sunggyu was thankful to Woohyun. Thankful for his presence, for listening to him and letting him vent. It’s been a long time since he had thought about his mom, his grandparents, and his home. Not too many knew of Sunggyu’s past, of where he came from. He had never told anyone all of this. Not even his close comrades. No one knew. There was only one person he could think of that knew him of his past as well, but that was because they also came from the orphanage his family ran.

Woohyun retracted his hand, and Sunggyu refused to admit that he wanted it to stay there. The pressure on his thigh was warm and heavy, and the action spoke louder than words. It calmed him. Such a small, little action had on more than one occasion mollify him. Woohyun looked up at the sky. The sun was completely gone now, but the sunset remained.

“Don’t you think this is a little unfair?” Sunggyu said. The leader enjoyed the comfortable silence between the two, but he wanted to hear him speak. He wanted to hear Woohyun's voice. The brunet gave him a puzzled look. “I practically unveiled my entire reasoning for INFINITE, and you're just sitting there with that dumb smile on your face."

Woohyun laughed at that. "Sorry, but your story, your reasoning behind everything about INFINITE is very inspirational."

"Oh, please. To most, we're just a gang running through the city, waving our guns around while everything around us coincidentally gets destroyed."

Thinking about the events of the previous mission, Woohyun didn't have the heart to say that that appeared to be the truth."Don't be modest. You're obviously doing a lot for these people. Some just don't know it yet."

"Tell me something about you; I really don’t know much. You’re just a guy who fell into our time from the sky. And trouble loves to follow you wherever you go.”

Woohyun nodded at that, his face flushing with embarrassment.

Where was the lie in that statement?

“Ah, my life isn’t that exciting, compared to yours at least.”

“Try me,” Sunggyu pressed.

“Well, you already know how I ended up here, in this time, right?" Sunggyu nodded, remembering one of the first conversations he had with the young man.

"Honestly, my life isn't that interesting. Nothing spectacular happened. The only thing worth talking about is how _batshit crazy_ my mom was.” Sunggyu snorted, urging for the brunet to explain. “For a long time, it was just me, my big brother, and my mom. My dad wasn’t in the picture. He died when I was still a baby. My mom,” Woohyun’s face scrunched up, trying to come up with an explanation. “She was crazy. Point blank, Sunggyu.” He wondered if he should mention that she was actually from this time period.

“What do you mean?”

“She made it very, _very_ hard to live with. So hard, that my brother moved out at the earliest chance he could. She would just do these weird stuff or say these little things to me. I honestly thought she hated me. At times, I really couldn't stand living with her. I had the option of living with my brother, but I couldn’t. No matter how estranged our relationship was at times, I couldn’t leave my mom. I didn't move out of the house till I started college. And even then, I didn't live too far from her for in case she ever needed me. She got really sick when I was a teenager, and I couldn't really leave her alone for too long. Someone needed to take care of her. As her health got worse, she made my life more of a living hell. One time, I came home from school with her running around the house, waving a gun- _a fake gun_ -around, saying they were coming for her, coming to do more experiments on her. She warned me that they were coming for me too.”

Woohyun let out a big dramatic sigh, rubbing his head in frustration. Sunggyu chuckled at his obvious vexation. “That doesn’t sound _too_ bad.”

“ _One time_ , she came rushing into my room at, like, four in the morning, whispering all creepy like that when I leave, I shouldn’t be afraid. He–whoever the fuck she was talking about–will be the only one to believe me.”

“Wow,” that’s all Sunggyu could say. “What did she mean?”

“To this day, I still don’t have any clue what she was talking about ninety percent of the time.” Sunggyu laughed at Woohyun’s exasperation. Woohyun slightly pushed Sunggyu, obviously annoyed by the latter. "I hate to admit it, but a part of me was happy, when she passed away not too long ago...actually right before I came here... Maybe not happy is the right word, but _relieved_? It was hard to enjoy most of my childhood and teenage years with her around. But- _god-_ do I actually miss her presence sometimes."

"Mother complex much?" Sunggyu snorted. Woohyun lightly pushed him again.

“Ugh, stop laughing, Sunggyu. _You have no idea what’s it like living with her_. And my brother, Boohyun, he would…”

Sunggyu felt like someone punched him in the gut. He swallowed thickly. His body stiffened with apprehension.

He had heard him wrong, right?

Sunggyu couldn’t concentrate on the words coming out of the younger man’s mouth. It was hard to breathe. This wasn’t the first time that name came out of Woohyun.

Boohyun.

Boohyun.

Boohyun.

It couldn’t be the same one, right? There had to be many people with that name in his time, right? It couldn’t just be a coincidence that this boy in front of him was the same one the Boohyun _he knew_ spoke of so often and fondly of.

A soft hand pressed to his cheek gently, startling the rebel leader. “Sunggyu? Are you okay?” Woohyun asked, waving his other hand in front of his face. He eyes were full of concern. “What’s wrong?” The caramel haired gman rabbed Woohyun’s hand, stopping his movement.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu breathed. “Your–”

“You guys!” A voice interrupted. Sungjong came running out of the apartment building, breathing harshly. He stopped in front of them, his brows furrowing. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Sunggyu looked at Sungjong and then back to Woohyun, realizing how close they were sitting next to each other. His conversation with Woohyun would have to wait. He released the brunet’s hand gently, trying his best to ignore the red that dusted the younger man’s cheeks as he looked away from him. He stood up, asking Sungjong what was wrong.

“Something happened to the shipment! I think Bi's people were attacked!” Sungjong ran back to the apartments, urging them to hurry.

Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun. They both nodded at each other before following Sungjong. The moment they stepped foot back into Bi’s apartment, they knew something was wrong. Everyone was in the kitchen, intently staring at Bi, who was adamantly talking to someone on the phone. From where Sunggyu stood in the entrance of the apartment, he could hear screaming and gunshots on the line.

“Dammit!” Bi slammed a fist into the island, chucking his phone across it.

“What’s going on?” Sunggyu demanded.

“My men who were bringing the shipment, they were ambushed!”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. Someone must have known about this, Sunggyu. I–”

Sunggyu marched up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and slammed him into the refrigerator behind. “Who did you talk to, Bi? Who else knew about this?”

“Wait, wait, wait, Sunggyu, I didn’t do anything! The only person who knew about this is my supplier, the same supplier I always go to!” Bi raised his hands in a defensive manner, flinching away from Sunggyu. "What about you guys?!"

“We were the only ones who knew about this, Bi.”

“Well, why would I rat you out then? Those are my people out there too, you know.”

“What are we going to do now?” Sungyeol asked, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Where are they now, Bi? Where were your people when they were ambushed?” Sunggyu released the old man with a huff.

“Not too far from here, a couple blocks from the gates to sector nine. They said they were being attacked by a couple of mercenaries.” Bi answered.

Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun. The brunet did the same. They were thinking the same thing.

Was it Tao again?

“We _need_ those supplies. We can’t afford to lose them. L and I will be going to shipment location to see what’s up. You three, stay here with Bi where it’s safe.”

“Are you sure? It could be dangerous if it’s just the two of you, especially since it’s so close to sector nine. That place has to be flooded with security,” Sungjong argued, his brows furrowing.

“Maybe, but no offense, you three would only be in our way.”

“Well, we should go now before it’s too late,” L grunted, quickly heading to the front door. Sunggyu spared no time preparing and quickly followed suit.

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun called before the leader walked out the front door. He turned to the younger, who seemed to be hesitating with his words. “…Please be careful out there, especially if it turns out to be him again.” If it really was Tao, they were all in big trouble.

“I’ll be fine; I promise.” Woohyun pursed his lips in distress.

Sunggyu felt a bit uneasy leaving the brunet here with the others, but there wasn’t much he could do. Woohyun was new to this all. He didn’t have the proper training to truly protect himself in dangerous situations. Sungjong was in a similar boat. It was rare for the young boy to even leave the INFINITE headquarters in general. Sungyeol, on the other hand, had no problem protecting himself. He often went on reconnaissance missions with Hoya. But he alone wasn’t enough to protect the other two. And he really didn’t want to leave them in Bi’s hands, but he really had no choice.

Sunggyu walked up to Woohyun, ignoring the loud annoyed sigh coming from L. He could _hear_ the man roll his eyes. “You be careful too, alright? Don’t hesitate to use this.” He gestured to the gun in Woohyun’s holster. The brunet nodded. Sunggyu bit his lip lightly. He wasn’t okay with this situation at all. “Here; take this too.” He reached for one of his holsters and pulled out a knife.

It was a small silver knife with a black handle inside a black leather sheaf. He grabbed Woohyun’s hand, placing the weapon in it.

“What’s this?” Woohyun asked, looking at the blade.

“It’s my lucky knife. I take it everywhere I go. I’ve had it since I was kid, when I was still with my mom,” he explained.

“Sunggyu, I can’t take this!”

“I just want you to hold on to it. I'm entrusting it to you, so take good care of it, alright? It should keep you safe. Use it if necessary.” His hand enclosed around Woohyun’s. “Stay safe, Woohyun.”

“Okay,” he whispered.

Sunggyu pulled away, ushering L to leave the apartment first. He looked to everyone on last time, “Sungjong, you stick close to Woohyun. Protect each other. Sungyeol, just do you. We’ll be back as soon as possible. Be careful.”

“Yes sir,” the INFINITE members chorused.

"What about me?" Bi complained.

* * *

 

“So, is that him?” A young boy with short pink hair asked. He adjusted the parameters of his scoop on his sniper rifle. He zoomed in on the six men that occupied the apartment across the street from him. He was happy he had a clear view of them all from the big open windows.

He zoomed in closer on a young man with short brown hair. He was talking to another young man with caramel colored hair.

“Yes,” his companion confirmed. Another young man with spiky light brown hair sat on the edge of the rooftop next to the pink haired boy. He pulled out a small tablet, tapping the screen a few times. A picture of the brunet in the apartment appeared on the screen. He showed his companion. “His name is Nam Woohyun, according to the reports Dr. Wu sent us.”

“He’s pretty,” the pink haired boy smiled. He watched as the caramel haired man and his companion quickly left the apartment, leaving the other four occupants alone. “He’d look even prettier with his blood splattered across the walls.”

“Remember the mission, Junhong,” his companion sighed. “Everyone but him dies. He’s coming with us.”

“But, Jongup, look at him,” Junhong complained. “Can I at least make him bleed a little? I can shoot him without killing him, you know. I want to hear what he sounds like screaming. I'm sure it's pretty, just like his face.”

“We were given explicit instructions from Dr. Wu and Yongguk to not lay a single hand _or_ _bullet_ on him, got it?”

“Fine,” Junhong groaned. “What about Bi? Do we let him live too?”

“Bi has been a great asset to us. He had successfully separated our precious rebel leader away from his allies. But he’s expendable; it's a shame, really.”

Junhong bit his lips in anticipation. “I wish I could see Sunggyu’s face when he comes back to find all of his comrades dead and his little friend missing.”

“I’m sure we all would,” Jongup pulled out a pair of binoculars, watching the occupants of the apartment. “You’re right. He is pretty.”

“Told you.”

The sound of the safety turning off and the cocking of the sniper rifle filled the air.


	28. A Hidden Insanity

Woohyunwasn’t sure how long he stood there, staring at the door. He prayed and prayed that Sunggyu and L would return back to them safely. He had confidence in the leader, and he knew he could defend himself just fine, but he was worried. He was scared for Sunggyu. Something in his heart told him that something bad was about to happen.

“Don’t worry, Woohyun!” Sungjong comforted, wrapping his arms around Woohyun’s shoulders. He swayed himself and the brunet slightly, trying to ease the tension. “Sunggyu can handle himself.”

“Yeah, I know,” Woohyun mumbled, giving the younger a smaller smile. Leave it to Sungjong to make him feel a bit better with just the littlest of actions.

“C’mon, let’s sit. It’s gonna be a while before they get back,” Sungjong pulled the older boy with him, making him sit down on the couch. The burgundy red haired boy strike up a conversation with Woohyun but the latter wasn’t in the mood. He couldn’t take his mind off of Sunggyu and the situation at hand.

Woohyun sighed, looking down at his lap. He was still clutching the knife Sunggyu gave him. He clenched the blade in his hand. Why would Sunggyu entrust something so important and precious to him?

“Woohyun,” Sungjong placed a hand on his shoulders, finally gaining the brunet’s attention. He glanced at the other before looking back to Sunggyu’s knife. “It’ll be alright.” Woohyun frowned, not responding. “I know how you feel. I always get worried when Sunggyu leaves for a mission too. I always fear that something bad will happen. I always fear that he won’t return back to us, to INFINITE.”

“This is stressful,” Woohyun sighed. “This mission was supposed to be simple: get in and get the supplies from Bi and get out while Sunggyu and L handled the reconnaissance. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Sungjong hummed, agreeing with the brunet.

“But we don’t always get what we want, unfortunately,” Sungyeol cut in. He walked up to the large living room window, admiring the view. “I sometimes get worried too when the others leave, but there isn’t much we can do.” He crossed his arm, turning to the boys on the couch. He leaned back, pressing against the window. “We all knew what we were getting into when we joined INFINITE. This is an unpredictable world, and our job as members of INFINITE is perilous. Every time we step foot out of the safe confines of the headquarters for a mission could very well be our last. But none of us regrets our decisions.”

Woohyun was quiet as he took in Sungyeol’s words. The members of INFINITE took a chance with death every day. They all very well knew that they might never live to see another day. But it seemed they all took pride in their choices and commitments. Woohyun felt admiration for each and every member of the rebel group.

“What about you, Woohyun?” Sungyeol asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you regret your decisions? Do you regret staying with us and becoming one of us?”

That was a good question. He never really gave it much thought. When Sungjong said he was considered a part of the family, a part of INFINITE, he knew the boy meant it. He wasn’t sure how the other members, mainly Dongwoo, Hoya, L, and Sungyeol, felt about him, but he was sure about how he felt about them. He trusted them, some more so than others, though.

He knew that Dongwoo didn’t mind about him joining. He was the second-in-command after all. Besides Sungjong, Dongwoo was his other favorite member. He and Sungjong were probably the ones to bring up letting Woohyun in to Sunggyu.

Woohyun still didn’t know Hoya too well. But he trusted the man. He had protected him while on the last mission, and seemed to be an overall nice kid–the brunet had learned not long ago that he was older than Hoya, L, and Sungyeol but only by a few months.

L, though, Woohyun was a bit wary of. The young man was quiet, and out of all the main members of INFINITE, he was the only one he had barely come across while in the headquarters. He hadn’t said much to Woohyun since they met his first day in traveling to South Hallow. He was obviously the quiet type, and he appeared very unapproachable. So the brunet wasn’t sure how the young man felt about him joining INFINITE. But although he respected all of their opinions, Sunggyu’s was the most important.

Not once since he became a part of their family had Sunggyu voiced his disapprovals of Woohyun. In fact, despite the incident during the mission briefing the other day, Sunggyu had been very civil towards him. One could say he was even _nice_ –believe it or not!–towards him. But Woohyun didn’t dare bring this up to the leader of INFINITE. If he did, Woohyun was sure he would have another broken nose.

Woohyun shook his head. “No. I am proud to say that I am a part of INFINITE.” He looked up to Sungyeol, giving the young man a determined expression.

Sungyeol snorted, pushing up his red frames. Woohyun could tell he was trying his best to hide his smile.

* * *

 

Junhong sighed, fingering the trigger of his sniper rifle. He continued to stare at the brunet in the apartment through his scope.

“B-But what about–” Junhong could hear yelling through the speaker of his partner’s phone. He couldn’t tell who Jongup was talking to, but the man sounded angry. “Why am I held responsible–”

Junhong directed his attention to the other occupants of the apartment. He wondered who he should cause pain to first. He eyed the burgundy red haired boy sitting next to _his_ brunet. He was talking animatedly to the latter, making him laugh. His eyes then trailed to the tall young man by the window. He couldn’t really get a good look at him since his back was facing the window.

There was movement in the background. Junhong panned up, watching Bi rummage around the kitchen. If there was anyone he wanted to kill the most, it was him.

“Junhong, I’m going now,” Jongup spoke up, gaining the pink haired boy’s attention. He pulled away from his scope, eyeing his companion. Jongup was standing next to him, cocking his gun. “Kill them, then I’ll move in and grabbed the guy, and then you come meet me.”

“Who was on the phone?”

“Daehyun.” Junhong rolled his eyes. He should had known.

“What did he want?”

“He was adamant about us not laying a hand on the boy. He was very _adamant_ about _you_ following orders.”

Junhong shook his head, not sparing another glance towards his partner. “I know, I know.” He looked through his scope again, eyeing the brunet once more.

“Do you, Junhong? If anything happens, both of our heads will be on the line. You remember what happened last time, right?”

“Hey, last time was an honest mistake. No one told Hoseok to jump in front of the bullet.”

“Yeah,” Jongup sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. “No one told Hoseok to jump in front of the bullet _twenty times_.”

Junhong laughed, his voice laced with malicious glee. “What can I say? One body wasn’t _enough_.”

“Whatever. Is your earpiece working?” He pressed his index and middle finger to his left ear.

Junhong pulled away from his weapon, digging into his jacket pocket. He pulled out his earpiece, stuffing it into his left ear. He tapped the device, and despite Jongup standing right next to him, he could clearly hear the older man’s voice in his ear as he repeated the question. “Yep.”

“Good. I’ll give the signal to you when I’m there.” Jongup headed towards the door on the far side of the rooftop. As he opened the door, he glanced over his shoulder. “Remember what I said, Junhong, stick to the job.” Junhong waved his hands, signaling that he had heard him. Jongup shook his head, leaving the roof.

The pink haired man took a deep breath, relaxing into a comfortable position on the ground. He closed his left eye, keeping the other open as he gazed into the scope of the sniper rifle one more time. He concentrated on his targets in the apartment, blocking any sort of distraction around him. He switched his attention from each of the men, debating on whom to cause pain to first. It wasn’t until another twenty minutes later that Jongup’s voice filled his ear, alerting him to his position. Junhong took one more contented breath.

“Let’s to paint the room red,” the pink haired man smiled, licking his lips tauntingly.

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

 

“For someone whose men are being ambushed, you sure seem calm,” Sungyeol observed, watching Bi humming to himself in the kitchen. Woohyun and Sungjong looked to Bi as well.

Bi gave them a toothy grin before chugging down another energy drink. “I have confidence in your leader that he’ll save the day.” He tossed the empty energy bottle into the trash. He walked around the island counter and out of the kitchen. “How about I give you all a tour of my place?” He gestured for the three INFINITE members to follow him down the hall to the left of the front entrance. The boys didn’t say anything. They just glanced at each other before turning back to Bi.

Sungjong walked over to the large bookcase that happened to be close to the couch. Sungyeol walked away from the windows and into the kitchen area. He sat down on one of the stools. Woohyun stood up from the couch and walked around it, pocketing Sunggyu’s knife. He leaned back up against the couch and crossed his arms. He held in his laugh, enjoying the way Bi was getting upset that they didn’t answer him.

“You boys like games? I have all the latest, most popular systems,” Bi tried to persuade them. Woohyun was almost tempted. He hadn’t had the chance to sit down and relax and play a good game in a long time, even before his mom died.

“Oh please. I doubt you have anything that could impress us,” Sungyeol rolled his eyes.

“Are you sure? I have the–”

“Anything you have, _I can make_ ,” he bragged.

Bi frowned, ignoring Sungyeol. “Uh, you like to read, kid?” He addressed Sungjong, who had pulled a decent sized book off the shelf. “I have a large room at the end of this hall that’s filled with more books. I consider it my mini library. What’s your favorite genre? I’m sure–”

“No thanks,” Sungjong didn’t even bat an eye at the older man. He flipped through the pages of the book. Bi gritted his teeth, whispering something under his breath. He eyes then fell on Woohyun. He licked his lips sensually, mentally undressing the brunet.

The brunet wondered how accurate he could throw the knife Sunggyu gave him.

“Well, _Woohyun_ , how about we take a tour of _my bedroom_?” He gave a suggestive smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

“I’d rather not,” it took all of Woohyun’s strength to not vomit on the spot. He heard Sungyeol slam a fist onto the counter, laughing his ass off. Bi walked away from the entrance of the hallway, approaching Woohyun.

“Why are you so intent on giving us a _tour_?” Sungyeol asked, stopping Bi in his tracks.

“I’m just trying to show my guests some good ol’ hospitality,” he shrugged, turning to Sungyeol.

“And your hospitality starts in your _pants_?” He raised a brow.

Bi was quiet for a moment. He glanced at Woohyun before looking back to Sungyeol. “For him, _yes_.”

Woohyun’s face scrunched up in disgust. The brunet has had his fair share of encounters with creeps like Bi before, but none were so blatantly honest like this older man. He heard a drawn out ‘ _ew_ ’ coming from Sungjong on his left.

“Listen, Bi,” Sungyeol hopped off the stool, pushing up the frames on his face. A look of abhorrence flittered in his eyes. “I _highly_ suggest you back off and leave him alone. A certain leader we all know wouldn’t take so kindly to you sexually harassing one of our own. Sunggyu definitely wouldn’t like it since it’s _Woohyun_ you’re harassing.”

Bi growled, walking over to Sungyeol. He peered down at the INFINITE member. He was a few centimeters taller than the young man, but the latter didn’t back down from the intimidating stare. “Listen here, you little shit. I don’t give a fuck what Sunggyu likes and dislikes. It’s not like what he wants is going to matter anymore anyway.”

“What do you mean by that?” Woohyun questioned, not liking the smug smile that appeared on Bi’s face.

The older man looked at the brunet. “By the time Sunggyu comes back, you all will be–”

It was quick, and Woohyun was confused as to why red splotches suddenly covered Sungyeol’s face.

Woohyun blinked, bewildered at the red that covered Bi as well.

Bi crumpled to the ground, landing on his back. His body twitched horrifically as he tried to press a hand to his neck. Blood gushed from the bullet hole. He coughed, and Woohyun could see blood pooling in his mouth. Bi’s eyes fell upon Woohyun before his body jerked violently. And then he went still.

Woohyun didn’t have time to react before he heard Sungyeol yelling at him, telling him to get down. He had never seen that much blood before. He collapsed to his knees, gasping. He covered his mouth, his eyes widening.

More bullets flung through the air. He could hear glass shattering all around him. The brunet saw Sungyeol flee further into the kitchen and to behind the island counter. Bullets whizzed in his direction as kitchenware and supplies were destroyed, sending pieces flying in all direction. Woohyun covered his head, hoping the couch gave him enough coverage. He could tell they were coming from behind where the huge living room windows were.

Sungjong screamed, and there was a crash to his left. Woohyun pulled his hands away as he saw Sungjong fall to the floor, the bookshelf slumping heavily on top of him. The bullets stopped. The brunet whispered his name, but the younger didn’t respond. He felt his heart thump in his throat as he gingerly crawled over to him. Only Sungjong’s head and his outstretched arm wasn’t covered by the shelf, and luckily from his position on the floor, the couch gave enough coverage to not get hit by anymore bullets.

“Sungjong?” Woohyun whispered again, pulling on the boy arm's roughly. He slapped his face a couple of times, but that didn’t do anything. Sungjong didn’t move at all, and Woohyun didn’t know what to do. He tried to push the bookshelf off of the younger, but it barely budged. “Sungyeol, help me, please!” He pleaded to the other INFINITE member. He felt tears dribble down his cheeks.

He heard a curse, and a moment later the red framed man quickly crawled from out of the kitchen and over to him. A sudden surge of bullets followed his tracks. Sungyeol was swift enough to make it over to Woohyun unscathed, though. Sungyeol crouched next to the brunet, his eyes flickering back and forth from the unconscious Sungjong and the bookshelf on top.

The young man hesitated for a moment before reaching out to help lift the shelf. With the added strength, the two young men were able to shove the bookshelf off of their friend. Sungyeol grabbed Sungjong by the arms and pulled him away from the shelf and closer to him and Woohyun.

“Sungjong,” Woohyun cried, checking to see if he was shot. The burgundy haired boy groaned, coughing slightly. His brows furrowed, but he didn’t gain consciousness. There, fortunately, wasn’t any blood, but the younger had an obvious bruise on his forehead from the impact of the bookshelf.

“This was a trap,” Sungyeol frowned, pulling his gun out. He switched the safety off.

“What?” Woohyun asked, wiping his tears away.

“It was an ambush. They wanted us separated from Sunggyu.” His eyes fell on the dead body of Bi. “Something tells me he was in on this too, but he was expendable.”

“But why? Do you think that Sunggyu and L are…?”

“Nah,” Sungyeol shook his head. “Sunggyu is like a cockroach. South Hallow could be laid wasted by a nuclear explosion, and he would still live. They probably separated us to make it easy to come for you.”

Woohyun’s eyes widened at that. “M-Me? What would they want with me?”

“What do you think?” Sungyeol crawled forward a bit and reached out, grabbing a piece of glass on the floor. He examined it for a moment, seeing his reflection in it. “They’re probably after you because of what you _are_ , a time traveler.” He then quickly pressed his back to the couch, and cautiously raised the glass above the top of the couch using the tips of his fingers. He maneuvered it so that he could look at the mirror’s reflection and see who was shooting at them.

For moment, Sungyeol thought he sawa light shining at him from outside on the rooftop of the building across the street, but suddenly a bullet shot into the apartment, hitting the mirror in Sungyeol’s hand dead-on, shattering it into pieces. Sungyeol immediately retracted his hand.

“What do we do, Sungyeol?” Woohyun sniffed. He took off his jacket and folded it, placing it gently under Sungjong’s head. He made sure to take Sunggyu’s knife out of the jacket pocket, stuffing it into his pants’ pocket. 

“We need to get out of here, but–” Woohyun raised a brow at the young man as the latter cut off suddenly, looking towards the front door. His eyes narrowed, studying the door. He gripped the gun in his hand while his other one reached out for Woohyun, grabbing him by the wrist.

“Sungyeol–?”

The front door stood swung wide open, latching off of its hinges, and a stream of bullets hurtled into the room.

Without a tinge of hesitation, Sungyeol pulled Woohyun roughly by the wrist, dragging him away from the unconscious Sungjong and down the hallway and around the corner of Bi’s large apartment before whoever was shooting at them walked in.

Sungyeol was quick, pressing himself against the wall. He gestured for Woohyun to take a few steps back away from him and to keep quiet. He peeked around the corner, seeing a man with spiky brown hair take a couple of careful steps into the apartment with an assault rifle in his hands. Sungyeol’s grip on his gun tightened, taking a deep breath. From his viewpoint, he couldn’t see much of the living room, which meant that whoever was sniping them didn’t have a clear shot of him and Woohyun. He glanced at Sungjong on the floor. There was no blood. He hadn’t gotten hit by the bullets.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Junhong,” the man cursed, pressing a couple of fingers to his ear. “For someone who claims to be the best of the best with snipers, you only managed to kill two of them.” He took a couple of more steps into the apartment, eyeing the dead man in the middle of the room. He lightly kicked Bi’s body, making sure the man was truly dead. He crouched down in front of him and nudged his head to the side with the muzzle of his gun. “It’s a shame, Bi, you done a lot for us, but it wasn’t worth keeping you alive anymore.” He didn’t sound apologetic at all.

“Get over here now, Junhong,” the man continued, standing back up. He didn’t bother to check Sungjong. As long as the latter stayed unconscious, he would be safe. _Hopefully_. “And let’s find the time traveler quickly before our precious INFINITE leader returns,” Sungyeol couldn’t see him anymore from his position as the man walked passed the couch and into the living room. “The only ones capable of standing a chance were Sunggyu and L. This last guy will be easy to kill.”

Sungyeol pulled back quickly, gulping. He should had seen this coming. He knew it. He knew it was a fucking trap this entire time. He knew Bi was fucking dirty from the beginning. And based off of what he was hearing, he knew they were after Woohyun.

Sungyeol threw a quick a glance over his shoulders. Woohyun was cowering behind him. He was shaking badly, and Sungyeol felt sorry for the brunet. “Go; hide, quickly!” He whispered, gesturing for Woohyun to leave. Woohyun hesitated momentarily before quietly scurrying off into one of the rooms behind him.

The spiky brown haired man started speaking again, but Sungyeol couldn’t make out what he was saying. He took another deep breath. While he had the chance, he needed to make his move before his partner joined him. He heard the man walk back from the living room. He peeked around the corner again, and saw him move passed the kitchen towards his general direction. He was still talking to his partner through his earpiece. He pulled back again. His grip on his gun tightened. Sungyeol took one step forward, preparing to fight the man.

“I’ll let Daehyun know that–”

Suddenly, a groan could be heard coming from Sungjong.

Sungyeol could feel his heart in my throat. He closed his eyes; his brows furrowed. “ _Please, Sungjong. Please stay quiet_ ,” his prayed to himself. But Sungjong groaned again. Sungyeol whimpered and softly and quietly banged his head on the wall in utter and complete frustration.

He heard some shuffling, “It seems like this one is still alive.”

It was now or never.

“Don’t even think about it,” Sungyeol threatened, stepping out from the corner. He made sure he was still hidden from the sniper. He aimed his gun at the man, not wavering in the least. He eyed Sungjong, who was still on the floor. He was still semi-unconscious.

The man in front of him froze, glancing over his shoulder.

“Who are you, and who sent you?” Sungyeol demanded. He took a couple of more steps forward.

“Does it matter? You’re going to die anyway.” Jongup sneered, not in the least bit intimidated by the INFINITE member. He turned around slowly, forgetting about Sungjong. He assessed Sungyeol before saying, “Where is he, the time traveler?”

“Who are you, and who sent you?!” Sungyeol repeated, ignoring his question.

The man smirked. “The name’s Jongup,” he appeased. “I work for YG, specifically Bang Yongguk. I’m sure you know him.”

Sungyeol’s eyes widened. He never met the man, the one in charge of the BEQP. But he knew of him.

“What do you want with him?”

“That boy is from another time,” he took a couple of steps towards Sungyeol. “He could greatly help us achieve the ability to do what we once were _able_ to do. Dr. Wu has already begun the process of restarting project K.O.T.” Sungyeol remember coming across some files labeled _Project K.O.T_ on the doctor’s tablet, but many of them were locked and inaccessible. He hadn’t had enough time to gain access to them yet. “I would say more, but I’m not authorized to.” He continued walking towards Sungyeol.

“Don’t come any closer!” He gave a warning shot at the man’s feet, forcing him to stop in his tracks. The spiky haired man raised a brow, not expecting for the young man to actually pull the trigger. They were told that the only ones going on this mission that they needed to worry about was Sunggyu and L. “Next time I will hit you.”

“Hey, now,” the man raised his hands, showing he meant no harm. “Let’s cut a deal, eh? I’ll let you and this kid over here live and walk away,” he gestured to the unconscious Sungjong. “And you give me Woohyun.”

“How do you know his name?” Sungyeol frowned.

“ _C’mon_ , I’m from YG. We know _everything_. We have informants inside and outside.”

Sungyeol sucked in his breath. What was this man insinuating? Was there really a mole within INFINITE? That would answer a lot of questions on how the enemies always seemed to be a step ahead of them.

“All,” Jongup continued. “we need is him. I don’t want to kill you two. And my partner doesn’t want to either. Just give him up, and I’ll walk away. I’ll lie to my superiors, saying we killed you all, so that they won’t come after you.”

“Yeah right,” Sungyeol laughed, frowning. “Do you actually take me for a fool?”

“Fine. How about this, give us the time traveler, and I’ll let you join us? I hear that you really good with building stuff. You’re somewhat of a mechanic, right? How would you like to work at the BEQP? To work directly under Dr. Wu himself? I’m sure he would enjoy having such a young and bright guy as his new assistant.” He smiled at Sungyeol. “How about I give him a call now? Let him know about this arrangement.”

“Oh yeah? Then drop your gun if you’re serious.” Sungyeol was tempted. He lowered his gun slightly, distracted by the offer. To actually have the chance to work for _the_ Dr. Wu would be a dream come true.

His eyes flickered to his comrade on the floor behind Jongup. He thought about Woohyun, who was still hiding away in one of the rooms down the hall. He thought about INFINITE and his leader. He had joined the rebel group a few years ago only to have better access to building stuff. He had no interest in saving the city, in fighting the government. He had lived a somewhat peaceful life in sector seven. His parents never caused any problems, and they never raised any questions about his obsession with weapons and science. He was never closed to them, and he didn’t even have a second thought when he had suddenly dropped everything and left home, never returning.

Sungyeol originally didn’t care much for INFINITE itself. Sure, he had to admit that what they fought for was courageous and righteous, but he just liked creating stuff and using it on people. Sungyeol wasn’t sure where along the lines he had gotten attached to Sunggyu and the others, the main members of INFINITE. He wasn’t sure when he had started caring for them, feeling the need to protect them and watch their backs like they did for him.

As tempting as it was to potentially–if Jongup was even telling the fucking truth–work for Dr. Wu, to work for the BEQP, to do what he always dreamed of doing, INFINITE was important too. INFINITE’s goals and dreams were a part of his too, and the group and its members were ultimately more important to him.

“Alright,” Jongup lowered his gun to the floor. “I’m going to pull my phone out of my pocket, okay?” He slowly reached into his pocket. “I’ll call Dr. Wu.”

The moment he pulled his hand out of his pocket, Jongup instantly pulled the trigger on the gun he had been concealing. Sungyeol had seen it coming, though, and raised his own weapon, squeezing the trigger. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, but he paid no mind to it. He continuously pulled the trigger till there were no bullets left. He wasn’t even sure he had actually hit the man.

Sungyeol breathed harshly as Jongup stopped shooting at him as well. The rebel blinked slowly, his hands falling to his side. He numbly watched as Jongup fell to his knees, blood trickling down the front of his face from the clean bullet hole in his forehead. His eyes were wide open as he fell forward, his body becoming stiff.

Sungyeol could feel the blood seeped through his clothes. He stumbled back, hitting the wall behind.  He slid down, slumping against it. He coughed up blood. The gun fell from his grasp. He pressed a hand to his side, applying pressure to his wound. He sighed, closing his eyes. He didn’t have the strength to get back up. This wasn’t the first time he had been shot, but it wasn’t something he wanted to get used to.

He wondered what Sunggyu would say to him. He was expecting big congratulations for stopping Jongup from the leader. He opened his eyes, chuckling a little at the thought. He was sure the most he would get would be a pat on the back.

With his other hand, Sungyeol reached up and took of his glasses. They were badly cracked and worthless now. He coughed again. Blood trickled down his chin from his lips. The pain in his side was tremendous. He could feel the blood seep between the crevices of his fingers. He was losing too much blood.

He needed to get up. There was still another enemy: the sniper. He reached for his gun, but lifting up his arm again took too much effort. His body felt heavy. He opened his mouth to call for Woohyun, but he coughed up more blood. He opened his eys, but his vision started to blur. He needed to warn the older boy, tell him to escape before the other gunman showed up. Sungyeol’s head lolled to the side. He felt lightheaded. Sungyeol’s eyelids felt heavy. He was struggling to stay conscious.

Sunggyu needed to hurry back.

* * *

 

Junhong stepped into the apartment, eyeing his surroundings. There were four bodies in front of him. Bi was the closest to him. A pool of blood surrounded his head. He couldn’t fight the smile that appeared on his face. He walked up to the body of the arms dealer, admiring his work. He pressed his fingers to the gunshot wound on Bi’s neck, chuckling at the blood that was still oozing from the hole.

Not too far from Bi was a young man with burgundy red hair on the floor behind the couch. A knocked down bookcase was next to him. He walked over to him, recognizing him instantly. He was the one he accidentally missed. Upon closer inspection, he realized the boy was still alive. Not for long, he thought. He would come back to deal with him after he found Woohyun.

He saw Jongup at the foot of the hallway. He frowned at his dead body. His eyes were wide open; is mouth ajar. The gunshot wound to his head was still fresh. He released a loud sigh, rolling his eyes at his dead partner. Yongguk wasn’t going to be happy about this. He picked up Jongup’s discarded assault rifle. Junhong felt no remorse for his partner. He wasn’t close to the older man. In fact, he was quite pleased that he didn’t have to deal with him anymore. Now he could have his way with the time traveling youth and get away with it.

Further up the hallway was the last body. A smear of blood painted the wall behind from where he had obviously slid down from. The right side of his torso was covered in blood, and the hand that was pressed against the wound did not aid in slowing down the bleeding. He stepped over Jongup, sauntering over to the last body. He crouched in front to the young man, noticing his labored breathing. He was unconscious, though. “You’re still alive too, eh?”He stood up. Based on the position of the bodies, it was obvious that this man was the one who killed Jongup. Junhong nudged the dying rebel’s gun to the side, and pressed the muzzle of his gun to young man’s head. His fingered hovered over the trigger.

“No!” A voice cried just as he was about to pull the trigger. Junhong smiled, knowing full well who the voice belonged to. He pulled away from the young man in front of him and stood up. He turned around. A few steps away from him, down the hall, was his main target.

Woohyun frowned, aiming the gun Sunggyu gave him at the gunman in front of him. The gun in his hands shook violently. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He could feel his heart palpitate fiercely in his chest. The unsettling smile that rested upon the pink haired man’s face troubled Woohyun.

Junhong took one step forward. “Stop! Don’t come any closer!” His hands couldn’t stop shaking. Junhong took another step. “I said stop!” Woohyun yelled, taking a step back himself.

“Do you even know how to use that?” Junhong gestured to the gun in Woohyun’s hands, enjoying the way the brunet quivered in terror in his presence. The latter didn’t answer. He continued to aim it at the gunman.

“One more step, and I will shoot!” Woohyun tried to steady the weapon in his hands. He gave a quick glance to Sungyeol on the ground behind the man, praying that he was still breathing; that he was still alive. Junhong noticed Woohyun’s distracted demeanor and took advantage of it.

“You should probably worry about yourself and pay attention to the obvious threats in front of you,” the pink haired man advised before swiftly approaching Woohyun. The brunet flinched at his movement, taking a step back. Junhong was quicker, though, and grabbed Woohyun, pinning him to the wall. He towered over the brunet.

One hand wrapped around Woohyun’s throat, lightly applying pressure; the other gripped the muzzle of his gun. He pressed it to his owm chin. “If you’re going to use this, then you should use it properly.”

The pressure on his throat tightened slightly, and Woohyun gasped. He attempted to release his hold on the gun, but Junhong’s hand, that was holding the gun to his chin, slid over his, holding them there. His fingers hovered over Woohyun’s, forcing the trigger the budge somewhat. “I’ll help you,” he whispered into his ear.

Woohyun released a guttural shout as Junhong squeezed the trigger on himself. The brunet instinctively screwed his eyes shut, expecting to feel the recoil of the handgun.

The fingers around his throat loosened.

Everything grew quiet.

Woohyun cracked his eyes open. Junhong was still there, standing in front of him. Woohyun’s eyes widened, his mouth agape with incredulity. The smile on the pink haired man’s lips made him feel sick to his stomach. There wasn’t a bullet hole, let alone a scratch on the man’s face. He forcibly pulled the pistol out of Woohyun’s hands, tossing it over his shoulders. It landed close to Sungyeol.

“The first step to using a gun properly: _turn off the safety_.”

Junhong’s fingers tightened around his throat, cutting off Woohyun’s air supply.  His fingers clawed at Junhong’s hand. Said man pulled the brunet close to him before slamming him back into the wall. He smiled wickedly, enjoying the moan of pain Woohyun emitted. His hold around his neck loosened again, allowing Woohyun to breathe in harshly. He pulled away from Woohyun slightly. The brunet wheezed, feeling the skin around his neck.

“Now what to do, what to do? With Jongup dead, I can have you to all to myself for a little while. What should I do with the pretty, little time–”

Woohyun didn’t give him a chance to finished, for he caught the pink haired man off guard by punching him, knocking the latter over. The brunet quickly scrambled away from him, running down the hallway into another corridor. He was thankful that Bi had an overly large apartment with a seemingly endless amount of rooms. He ran to the very last door at the end of hallway, slamming and locking it shut.

Junhong struggled to his feet, wiping the blood from his busted lip. He didn’t know which room Woohyun ran off to, but that was alright with him. “Fine. Let’s play a game of hide ‘n seek.” He yelled loudly, making sure Woohyun heard him from wherever went to.

Woohyun pressed his back against the door, placing his hand on his chest. He could feel his heart beat wildly against it. He breathed in heavily, still feeling the effects of being choked. He jumped, hearing Junhong yell for him. The brunet squeezed his eyes shut, holding back the scared sob that threatened to escape. It was obvious to Woohyun what this man’s intentions were. He wasn’t only interested in bringing him to YG.

The opening and slamming of doors forced Woohyun to open his eyes again. He needed to get out. He needed to get back to Sungyeol and Sungjong. He eyed the room he was in. There were books everywhere. This must’ve of been the library Bi mentioned. To Woohyun’s right was a small desk. He ran over to it, and as quietly as he could, he dragged it front of the door, making a makeshift barrier. Woohyun could hear Junhong getting closer and closer to the room he was in. He grabbed a few more scattered and moveable furniture in the room to the door. As he was pushing another chair against the door, suddenly, the door knob rattled.

“Aha!” Junhong’s muffled voice exclaimed. “I have finally found you, haven’t I?!”

Woohyun gasped, dropping the chair. He ran to the other side of the room and pressed his back against the built-in bookshelf. His shook in fear. There was no other way to get out. He had nothing to protect himself with. He closed his eyes as the door shook violently. Woohyun whimpered, cowering into the corner.

“Sunggyu,” he whispered. “Please come.”

Woohyun opened his eyes at the thought of Sunggyu. How could he have forgotten? He quickly stuffed his hand into his pocket, pulling out Sunggyu’s knife. He took the leather sheaf off.

“Finally,” Junhong cheered, pushing hard enough against the door, breaking the lock. Woohyun looked at the blade in his hand. He didn’t know how to use it properly, but it was the only thing he had left to defend himself. The brunet raised the knife in front of him, preparing to use it.

Junhong pushed against the door one final time, making the barrier Woohyun created fall over. The brunet gulped as the pink haired man slowly walked into the room, eyeing Woohyun like he was his prey and he was the predator.

“I’ve finally found you,” Junhong drawled, taking leisurely steps towards Woohyun. The brunet shifted to the side, moving away from the corner. The pink haired man’s slow steps quickened, and he reached for Woohyun.

However, the young man was prepared and swung the knife at Junhong. He was able to graze Junhong’s arm with the knife, cutting through the man’s shirt easily. A light sheen of blood drew at the wound. The sniper took no notice of the cut. He quickly grabbed the Woohyun’s hand with the blade. He squeezed his wrist, raising his arm above his head, forcing the brunet to release the knife. He kicked the blade, making it slide across the floor and hitting the far wall.

Since Junhong was much taller than Woohyun, he effortlessly lifted the brunet off the ground a bit. Woohyun cried in pain, swatting at Junhong. He tried to kick at the pink haired man, but the latter released him suddenly.

Woohyun landed on the ground with a whimper. His world was spinning, and he had to close his eyes to help gather his bearings. He needed to get Sunggyu’s knife. He opened his eyes, flinching in fear from the wolfish grin that adorned the man’s face. He quickly rolled over, scrambling in the direction Sunggyu’s knife slid.

“I love it when they try to run away,” Junhong laughed, watching Woohyun quickly crawl across the room.  The brunet didn’t get very far, though.

He briskly walked after Woohyun and gripped onto his leg, stopping the boy in his tracks. Woohyun grunted, trying to loosen the grip on his leg. The knife was in his reach. Junhong pulled on him, yanking the brunet closer to him. “I’m sure they won’t really mind if I inflict a little pain on you, right?”

Woohyun screamed, kicking at the pink haired man. He stretched his arms ahead of him, trying to get a grip onto the carpet. He was close. He was so close to the knife.

“Damn, you’re a feisty little time traveler, aren’t you?” He tried to get another grip on the brunet, but kept kicking at him.

Junhong forcefully flipped Woohyun onto his back, straddling his waist.

Woohyun blindly reached above him, his fingertips just barely grazing the knife. With his other hand, the brunet tried to push Junhong off of him, but the sniper quickly pinned his hand to the floor. He squeezed his wrist, bruising the skin. Woohyun cried out. He thrashed around, trying to move the man off of him.

“What should I do first?” Junhong pondered aloud. He gripped Woohyun’s chin, forcing the brunet to look at him. “As long as I don’t kill you, I can get away with doing anything to you.” He licked his lips, enjoying the way Woohyun trembled and quivered under his touch. The brunet closed his eyes; he screamed and screamed for Sunggyu in his mind. He needed him. He wanted him there to save him.

Woohyun twisted his head, trying to get Junhong to release him. He tried to stretch his arm further, but the knife kept slipping from his grip. The sniper leaned down, his breath fawning over his skin. The brunet flinched, scrunching his face in disgust.

Junhong pressed his nose into Woohyun’s hair, sniffing him. “I’m going to have so much fun with you,” he groaned. “I wonder how our rebel leader would feel about me touching something of his.” Woohyun’s fingers grasped around the handle of the knife. Junhong pulled back slightly, caressing Woohyun’s cheek. The latter opened his eyes. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the knife firmly.

A hand traveled down to his chest, pulling at his shirt. Junhong leaned back down. At the sound of the tear of his shirt, Woohyun swung his arm.

Sunggyu’s knife lodged into Junhong’s neck, stopping the man's attempt of assaulting Woohyun. A look of confusion formed on the pink haired man’s face. His brows furrowed and his mouth widened. Blood poured from his neck and slid down the brunet's arm. Junhong coughed, splattering blood onto Woohyun. The brunet flinched at the feel of the red liquid landing on him.

The hand that pinned Woohyun’s other hand grew slack. Woohyun stared in Junhong’s eyes, watching them turn distant. Junhong’s body slowly leaned further down, completely collapsing on top of the brunet. His head landed next to Woohyun’s with a deafening thud, growing still.

Woohyun could still feel the blood ooze from the laceration. The blood was warm as it trickled on to him, sliding down his cheek. His eyes widened, taking in a sharp breath. He began to breathe harshly, panicking. He tried to push Junhong off of him, but his body was too heavy. It wouldn’t move.

He tried his best to swallow the sob that wanted to erupt from him. But he couldn’t fight the tears that spilled from his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing and wishing for all of this to had been just a terrible nightmare. His body shook. He was still gripping onto the knife that was still lodged in the sniper’s neck.

The man he wished and called out to came to the forefront of his mind. He tried to calm himself down, imagining the stunning smile that has only been directed towards him a couple of times. How he wished he was there right now to tell him he it was okay, to whisper calming words to him, to tell him over and over again that he would _never let go_.

“ _Sunggyu_ ,” Woohyun finally sobbed.


	29. A Premonition Too Late

Sunggyupressed his back against the wall. The caramel haired man cautiously peaked around the corner. An armored truck was parked down the road from him. A couple of men in all black were on the ground. They weren’t moving. Sunggyu didn’t need to inspect them to know they were dead.

“Is that the supply truck?” L asked, rushing to Sunggyu’s side and mimicking his actions. Said man didn’t answer and continued to survey their surroundings.

The area was surprisingly desolate and grim. From his position, Sunggyu could even see the ginormous gates in the distance that led to sector nine and yet there was not a single guard patrolling the district.

Sunggyu narrowed his eyes, not liking the situation they walked in. It was quiet, too quiet. Where were the supposed mercenaries? Was Tao here, somewhere? The young man quietly sighed. He knew this had to be a trap. The moment he and L stepped foot out into the open, they would probably be surrounded and attacked.

Normally, in circumstances like these, Sunggyu would scope out the area, locating all possible threats and gaining the upper hand in the situation, but he didn’t have time for this. He needed to return to the others. He had been feeling a sense of dread from the moment he had stepped foot out of the apartment. If it had just been Sungyeol and Sungjong, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be feeling like this. But it wasn’t just them. Woohyun was with them, and that’s what really worried him.

Sunggyu knew when push comes to shove, Woohyun knew how to defend himself.  But that was about it. Woohyun wasn’t a soldier like him. He wasn’t a fighter like the rest of them. It was obvious, from the conversations he had had with the younger, that the brunet had gone through his share of hardships in his life, but Woohyun was just a kid. He wasn’t fit for this kind of world, this kind of environment.

_People, like him, shouldn’t have to live in a world like this._

Woohyun may be able to throw a punch or two, but Sunggyu could see it in his eyes. Woohyun was too fragile, too sensitive, _too pure_ for any of this.

He would never be able to make it on his own in a world-a time-like this.

Sunggyu was hesitant at first, when Sungjong and Dongwoo brought up letting Woohyun join INFINITE. The younger was annoying and a bit of burden– _still is_ –but Sunggyu didn’t have the heart to force Woohyun to go.  Plus, he was beginning to grow fond of the brunet. But, Woohyun had nowhere to go. And no way back to his own time, if it was still possible.

The rebel leader wished he had paid more attention to the things Himchan used to tell him when it came to the means and science behind time traveling. The number of times Kris had forced the blond through the threshold and the amount of the times he had been experimented on for the sake of traveling, Himchan had became an expert on the subject matter.

“Let’s go,” Sunggyu said, stepping away from the wall.

“It’s obviously a trap,” L frowned.

“I know, but we need to hurry, and there’s not much we can do about it.” Sunggyu didn’t wait to hear anymore of L’s complaints and walked out into the open towards the supply truck. He heard L’s hesitant footsteps follow behind. The leader approached the dead men on the ground. They both had gunshots holes in the head: a quick and painless death.

“Check the trunk,” Sunggyu ordered L.

Said man grunted, heading to the back of the vehicle. He wrenched open the trunk. Boxes upon boxes filled the back of the truck. The young man opened a few, checking its contents. Some were filled with medical supplies, others were filled with weapons and ammo and other technical stuff. “Everything’s here.”

“The great Kim Sunggyu has finally arrived!” Sunggyu heard a voice call out. He glanced over his shoulders and saw a group of guards and soldiers rush towards them. They surrounded the two rebels, their guns aimed at them.

Sunggyu moved away from the truck, not caring in the least about all the guns aimed at him. He eyed all of the soldiers, trying to pick out the voice he had just heard.

“I was starting to think you’d never come,” the voice said again, lightly chuckling. Behind the soldiers directly in front of him, Sunggyu saw a young man approach them. He had short, light, fluffy, brown hair. He wore a long, black buttoned up trench coat. His hands were stuffed in his pockets as he moved past the circle of soldiers and stood in front of Sunggyu. He smirked at the rebel before glancing at L behind him. His smirk widened before his eyes fell upon Sunggyu again.

“Who sent you?” Sunggyu asked, getting straight to the point.

“Hold on! Before that, let me just tell you how _honored_ I am to be in your presence!” The young man smiled, excitement flickered in his eyes. “Like I’ve read reports on you and heard how you were considered a legend in the military back in the day.”

Sunggyu’s brows furrowed not expecting to hear that. “Um–”

“While I was a trainee, I always aspired to be like you!” He quickly unbuttoned his coat, revealing a plain white shirt he wore underneath. He tossed his coat to the ground and raised his right arm sleeve. “I even got your name tattooed here!” In bright pink letters with cute, tiny red hearts surrounding it was Sunggyu’s name etched on the man’s surprisingly muscular bicep. The young man flexed his arm a little, making the hearts wiggle a bit.

“…Thank you?” Sunggyu’s face scrunched up in confusion. He tilted his side, blinking. To say he was disturbed was the understatement of the year. He heard L snort behind him.

“No, _thank you_ , Kim Sunggyu!” He bowed.

“Uh, Baekhyun, sir? When are we going to attack?” One of the soldiers asked, lowering his weapon.

Sunggyu frowned, almost forgetting the situation they were technically in. He glanced over his shoulder at L, nodding at his partner. L nodded back. They needed to take advantage of their distracted enemies.

“Ah, just a moment! One more thing, Kim Sunggyu.” Baekhyun crouched down, rummaging through the pockets of his coat. He pulled out a notepad that had Sunggyu’s face printed on it. “Can I have your autograph?!” He shoved the notepad and a pen in Sunggyu’s face.

Instead of signing his name, Sunggyu tossed the pad over his shoulder and grabbed Baekhyun’s outstretched hand, pulling the soldier towards him. He quickly turned him around, pulling his gun out and pressing it to his head. L turned around, aiming his weapon at the guards that were behind them as well.

“No, Baekhyun, sir!” All the guards gasped, aiming at Sunggyu.

“Stay where you are, or I’ll shoot!” Sunggyu threatened. Unfortunately, there were too many guards for him and L to handle. This distraction would have to do.

“Listen to him, boys!” Baekhyun coughed as Sunggyu’s arm around his neck tightened. “I’ve got this!”

“Now answer my question from earlier,” Sunggyu demanded. “Who sent you?”

“I can’t believe I’m being restrained by _the_ Kim Sunggyu,” Baekhyun smiled, not even attempting to break out of the hold.

“Answer me, dammit!”

“Yongguk, sir, sent me!” He finally answered. Sunggyu frowned at the name. It always came back to Yongguk in the end.

“How did you know about this, the supply truck?”

“We have our ways!” He placed his hands on Sunggyu’s arms, finally trying to put up a fight.

“Who were your sources?”

“ _That_ I can’t tell you.”

Sunggyu squeezed his hold on the shorter male. “Like hell you can’t!”

“No, really! I’m just a hired mercenary. I’m not privy to such things! What I can tell you is that you can thank Yongguk, sir. We were given explicit permission to not kill you. He wants to end you himself. But I do have permission to do whatever I can to ensure that you’ll be coming back with us. You have a long overdue meeting with Yongguk, sir!”

“As if that would happen. I don’t have time to deal with you.”

“Oh? It’s not like you have anything to return to.” Baekhyun smirked.

“ _What_ –”

Baekhyun gripped Sunggyu’s arm, tossing the rebel leader over his shoulder and onto the ground. He then swiftly spun around, roundhouse kicking L before the latter could even comprehend what had happened.

L landed on the ground with a thud. He then quickly rolled over, avoiding the bullets coming his way. He immediately squeezed the trigger of his own gun, hitting the guards in front of him. Some more rushed towards him. The raven haired man rose to his feet and rushed to the truck for cover, killing a few more soldiers in front of him.

“You all handle him. I’ll deal with Kim Sunggyu!” Baekhyun ordered.

Sunggyu groaned in pain as he struggled to get back up. He was not expecting the mercenary to suddenly overpower him like that. He briefly watched as the rest of the soldiers followed after L. Sunggyu wasn't sure if L could handle them all on his own, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.

“I know you won’t come with us quietly, Kim Sunggyu, and it pains me to even hurt a tiny hair on you,” Baekhyun clutched his chest, confliction evident in his eyes.

“Where does Yongguk _find_ you guys?” Sunggyu complained.

Instead of answering, Baekhyun wasted no time in charging at Sunggyu, throwing a few punches his way. The rebel leader dodged them easily, inflicting his own attacks on the mercenary. Sunggyu swung his fist, hitting the younger square in the face.

Baekhyun stumbled backwards, pressing a hand to his nose. His entire face blossomed in pain. Blood gushed from his nose. “Oh, fuck! I was _not_ ready for that.” Sunggyu took a couple of steps towards the man before the other stammered out, “W-Wait! I need a moment!” He crouched down, whimpering in pain.

“Are you kidding me?” Sunggyu growled. He approached Baekhyun.

“I can see what those two meant! You hit like a truck.” He looked up to Sunggyu, his eyes gleamed with tears. “I’m not sure if I should feel happy about getting hit by Kim Sunggyu or–” Sunggyu kicked the mercenary in the face with the sole of his foot.

“Call up Yongguk right now and tell him that he needs stop sending you guys after me and fight me himself. I agree; we are long overdue for a meeting.”

Baekhyun rolled on the ground away from Sunggyu. “No can do, Kim Sunggyu.” He drawled, his voice becoming nasally. He rolled into a fetal position. The resistance leader was sure he just heard the young mercenary sniffle.

“This is a god damn waste of time.” Sunggyu scowled. He turned around, looking for L. He didn’t have time to deal with wimps like Baekhyun. There were a lot of dead soldiers on the ground, but he couldn’t spot the young man.

“You’re right,” Baekhyun grunted, staggering to his feet. Sunggyu saw that he was missing a couple of teeth. He kind of felt bad for kicking the guy that hard.

“What do you mean?”

“This was just a distraction. You can thank your friend Bi for aiding us.” He wiped the blood that was still oozing from his nostrils.

“What– _just a distraction_?” Sunggyu’s eyes widened.

Baekhyun smirked at the leader. “Sure, you’re Yongguk’s enemy, but you’re not his main priority at the moment.”

_Woohyun?_

Sunggyu felt like the wind was knocked out of him.

Baekhyun looked down at the watch on his left wrist. “By now, your comrades should be dead. But don’t worry; the time traveler should be fine. We’ll take _extra good care of him._ ”

Sungyeol and Sungjong’s face came to his mind. They were supposed to be _safe_. No harm was supposed to come to them. “A trap within a trap,” Sunggyu swallowed thickly. “ _Woohyun_ …” That sense of dread he had been feeling earlier came back with a vengeance. All he could think about was the brunet he had promised to protect. He needed to go. It might not be too late. Sunggyu turned around, looking in the direction he had originally came from. Bi’s apartment wasn’t too far from here, but would he get back in time?

He took a step forward, but Baekhyun’s maniacal laughter caught his attention. “There’s no point of going back. You’ll just return to an apartment filled with dead bodies. Plus, we’re not done here!” He raised his fists, preparing to continue their fight. Baekhyun rushed towards him, pulling his fist back.

Sunggyu glanced over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the mercenary. “This fight was over before it even started.” He fully turned around, catching the punch Baekhyun threw his way. He gripped the hand, pulling the mercenary towards and kneed him in the gut.

The caramel haired man watched as Baekhyun fell to his knees. He wrapped his arms around his stomach, gasping for air.

This was taking too long.

If the others were really dead...

If Woohyun was truly gone, then the least he could do was keep this man around. Sunggyu leaned down, grasping the man by the arm, forcing him to stand back up. “You’re coming with me.” He was going to take him back to the headquarters and interrogate him. He had an inkling for why they wanted Woohyun, but he needed more answers, and he doubt Yongguk was going to show himself anytime soon.

“I can’t believe I’m being taking hostage by _Kim Sunggyu_ –” Sunggyu punched him in the face again, cutting off the mercenary. His grip on the man’s arm tightened as he headed to the truck. He wouldn’t get back to Bi’s place fast enough, especially with his new hostage, but he was sure he would get there quickly with the supply truck.

As he approached the truck, L came running around the corner. He stopped in front of Sunggyu, eyeing the mercenary behind him. There wasn’t a single scratch on him, not even a speck of blood. How did this man survive a fight with twenty plus armed soldiers unscathed?

“You dealt with all the soldiers?” L grunted in response, not taking his eyes off of the mercenary. Sunggyu glanced at Baekhyun, noticing the knowing look he gave L in return. “Listen,” he continued, frowning. Something wasn’t right.

Something was off.

“We need to–”

Before Sunggyu could say anymore, L pulled his gun out and shot Baekhyun in the chest. The mercenary slipped from Sunggyu’s grip and lurched backwards. The rebel leader eye’s widened, his mouth agape with disbelief. He watched as Baekhyun gave him a bloody smile before falling backwards onto the pavement. His body stilled. Blood pooled around him.

Sunggyu was speechless. He looked to L and then back to Baekhyun.

_What the hell_?

He turned back to L, expecting the younger to explain his actions. Said man gave him a blank and empty look, pocketing his gun.

Sunggyu grabbed L by the collar of shirt, “What the hell was that–?”

“Didn’t you say we needed to hurry back? The others are dead, but we might be able to catch up whoever kidnapped your little time traveler.” He roughly pushed Sunggyu back, dusting his shirt off.

Sunggyu’s breath hitched.

He didn’t say. 

"We should take the truck. We'll reach Bi's place much faster than on foot." He jumped into the passenger seat without waiting for Sunggyu's response.

He didn’t tell L what had happened to the others.

* * *

 

Daehyun cowered in fear, flinching at the acidity in his boss’s voice.

“One, two, three–” Yongguk slammed folders after folders in front of the man. He could hear Youngjae to his right whimper louder and louder with each file haphazardly sliding its way towards them. Dr. Wu, sitting on the other side of Daehyun, adjusted in his seat, not in the least bit intimidated by the outbursts. His left arm was in a sling and bandages were wrapped tightly around his shoulder. Daehyun briefly wondered what it was like still experimenting and performing your duties immediately after getting shot in the shoulder. “…Six. These are all the people you hired to handle INFINITE and not one of them succeeded!” Yongguk tossed a pile of photographs in front of Daehyun.

The young man looked down at the table, eyeing the black and white photos of his comrades. The faces of Sehun, Chen, Taemin, Jongup, Junhong, and Baekhyun stared back.

“I-I sorry, sir–” Daehyun stammered.

“Sorry isn’t good enough!” Yongguk banged his fist on the table. “INFINITE has thwarted my plans over and over again! I am tired of losing to that bastard!” Yongguk gritted his teeth, slamming his hands on the table again. “We are always miles and miles ahead of them, and yet, each time we cross paths, Sunggyu ruins me, pushing me back to the starting line.”

“If we could just get our hands on the boy,” Kris began. “The reconstruction of project K.O.T would move faster. I can only do so much with the limited resources we have now. If only that other one was still alive… To think that they’re actually _related_. Such a coincidence.”

“For the meantime, continue to do whatever you can Doctor; I’ll get you that kid. I’m so close to getting _him_ back. I refuse to give up now.”

“What should we do now, sir?” Youngjae meekly asked, refusing to make eye contact with their red haired boss. “We’ve pretty much exhausted all of our resources… And Tao is still out of commission. We don’t have anyone else fit for this kind of job.”

“Well, not _all_ of them. There is still…” Daehyun trailed, giving Yongguk a knowing look.

The red haired man frowned, thinking over their situation a bit. He looked down at the table covered in folders and files related to the dead men they sent to handle Sunggyu and the rest of INFINITE. He looked at his clenched fist. There was one last photo still in his hand. He then glanced back up, briefly looking at the three men sitting in front of him.

“Give _them_ a call, Daehyun,” he tossed the slightly crumpled photo that was in his hand onto the table. “It’s time we move on to phase two.”

Daehyun looked at the old, worn and torn photograph. It was a picture of a young Yongguk and Sunggyu from their military days, standing side-by-side with big smiles on their faces. He remembered that _he_ was the one who took that photo, back when he was just a new recruit, when Yongguk had jet black hair and Sunggyu had a deep red, when Himchan was still alive.

Yongguk pulled out a knife, pinning the crumple photo the table. It pierced right through the image of Sunggyu, creating a tear in the picture.

“INFINITE’s destruction is imminent.  And why not start from the _inside_?” 


	30. Holding On

Sunggyuhad seen his fair share of horror during his times in the military. He had grown close to many only to see them die before his very eyes. Not only did he have his enemies’ blood on his hands but his comrades too. Not a day would go by that Sunggyu would find himself washing his hands over and over again, cleaning the _blood_ away till his skin felt raw and turned pink. He would stare at his reflection for hours on end, telling himself that _it was alright_.

_It’s over._

_You’re safe._

_You don’t have to worry anymore._

_Everything will be alright._

It’s been six years.

It’s been six years, and Sunggyu still finds himself waking up in a cold sweat, his dreams plagued by the dead. Everywhere he looked, everywhere he turned he would see their faces, the ones he promised impossible promises to. He was tormented by his past mistakes, and even now, no longer a general in the army but the leader of a rebellion fighting against the ones he had once called his friends– _best friends_ – he was still scared. With every decision he made, he questioned his very existence.

Why?

Why him?

Sunggyu was only twenty three years old and the fate of hundreds laid on his shoulders with every breath he took. The stress alone made his body wrack with sobs when he believed no one was around to see and listen. With every step he took, the long, loud, piercing screams of his allies constantly ringed in his ears, and it took all of his strength to not squeeze the trigger on himself.

Why Sunggyu?

He didn’t ask for this. He didn’t ask to have the military break down his doors, destroy his home, and brutally kill his mother. He didn’t ask to be taken like the rest of the orphans into military custody. He didn’t ask to be trained and become a dog of the military.

He was just a kid.

He didn’t want to live in a world like this, but he made promises. He promised impossible promises to dead people, and Sunggyu didn’t go back on his words.

Sunggyu saw a lot of his younger, naïve, _innocent_ self in Woohyun sometimes. He often wondered what kind of person he would had grown up to be if he was raised in a time like Woohyun’s. Boohyun had shared many stories about his world, and Sunggyu was envious.

He wanted to live in a world where he could sleep peacefully at night and not be reminded about his failures around every corner. He wanted to live in a world where he could go to college and major in something useless but enjoy it nonetheless. He wanted to live in a world where he could fall deeply in love and not have nightmares of watching them die before your very eyes.

Sunggyu had seen his fair share of horror during his times in the military, but he would never get used to walking into a room filled with the bodies of people he knew, people he loved.

Sunggyu felt lightheaded as he took a step into the apartment. The place was in ruins. Everything was demolished. Glass littered the ground. Chairs and shelves were turned upside down.

_And red painted the walls._

The first body he saw was Sungjong’s, and Sunggyu had to grasp the doorframe for a moment. He stumbled his way over to his brother, falling to his knees. He ignored the glass that dug into his legs as he carefully placed a hand to his cheek.

Sungjong’s eyelids fluttered open, and Sunggyu released a breath he was not aware of holding.

“–G-Gyu?” Sungjong muttered, blinking a few times.

Sunggyu opened his mouth, but no words came to his mind. He eyed the younger’s body, now noticing that he didn’t look severely injured. A bruise here and there and the obvious knot forming on his forehead, but Sungjong appeared to be _fine._

“What happened?” Sungjong asked, squeezing his eyes shut. He pressed a hand to his head, groaning in pain.

“You tell me.” He helped the younger sit up slowly. The latter leaned back against the couch behind him.

The sound of glass breaking caught Sunggyu’s attention, and he glanced over his shoulder. L stepped into the apartment, his eyes falling upon Sunggyu and Sungjong. His eyes widened. He looked utterly confused and surprised.

“W-We were all talking,” Sungjong slurred. Sunggyu looked back to him. The younger opened his eyes. “And… and… a-and…” he groaned.

“It’s okay. I think I know,” Sunggyu soothed. It was obvious he had a concussion and was finding it hard to even form a thought. He leaned forward, pressing a chaste kiss to the boy’s forehead. If he had lost Sungjong…

Sunggyu looked down noticing the jacket Sungjong was laying on. It was Woohyun’s.

Where was he?

“Sunggyu…” Sungjong mumbled, distress in his eyes. He looked at the caramel haired man before shifting his attention to behind him. Sunggyu turned around and beyond Bi and someone Sunggyu unfortunately recognized was Sungyeol at the foot of the hallway.

He turned to L, “Go back and get some of those medical supplies,” he ordered. He watched as the other left wordlessly. He narrowed his eyes at the retreating figure, cautious about being in his presence. He didn’t forget what had happened, what L had done and said, but he didn’t have time to deal with that. More important things were at stake.

He glanced at Sungjong one last time before getting up and making his way towards Sungyeol. He crouched down by the younger, and he had never been so happy to hear the other _breathe_. His eyes were closed; his head was lolled to the side. His breathing was labored, and his hand was pressed tightly to his side. Sunggyu reached out, pressing his own hand to the gunshot wound. Blood was still flowing from it but at a slower pace.

Sunggyu wasn’t an expert on treating wounds–that was Sungjong’s job–but if L hurried back with the supplies, Sungyeol might make it. Sunggyu pondered on what had happened here. Baekhyun claimed they were all dead. He claimed there was nothing to return to except for the bodies of his dead allies and yet both Sungjong and Sungyeol was alive. The caramel haired man took a deep, shaky breath, counting his blessings. He had gotten back in time. But…

Where was Woohyun?

Did they take him?

“It’s about time,” Sungyeol grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. He weakly glared at his leader.

“I’m sorry,” Sunggyu whispered.

“I-If I make it out of this alive, I demand… a t-two month vacation.” He rasped. His body jerked slightly, cringing in pain.

“You can do anything you want after this.” It wasn’t a secret that Sunggyu wasn’t that fond of Sungyeol in general, but he was a comrade. He was a friend. And the thought of losing Sungyeol made his head throb.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about me.” With newfound strength, Sungyeol pushed Sunggyu away from him, forcing the former to retract his hand from his wound. “There are more important people who needs you. _He_ needs you.” He rolled his head to the side, looking down the long hallway. “I… I don’t know if he’s…” He trailed off, frowning. “I was only able to kill one of them.” Sunggyu assumed he was talking about the dead man behind them.

He knew who the man was. He knew Jongup, unfortunately. He was yet another one he had once called his _friend_.

“Go, Sunggyu,” Sungyeol urged, coughing again. “I’ll be fine. He’s more important to you anyway.”

Sunggyu didn’t need to be told a third time before he found himself racing down the long corridor. Broken down doors and demolished rooms greeted him, but none held the boy he was aching to find. Sunggyu slowed down as his eyes fell upon the last door in the hallway.

The doorknob was smashed, and the door itself hung loosely on its broken hinges. He took a careful step in, and the smell of death hit him tenfold. The room was a mess with tables turned to their sides and lamps thrown to the floor. And the dead body of a young boy with pink cotton candy hair lied in the middle in a puddle of his own blood. The rebel leader stepped around the debris that was pressed against the wall and door.

How many times was Sunggyu going to walk into a room with the dead body of someone he knew?

Junhong lied on his back, his eyes wide open, but there was no life in them. Blood was still oozing from stab wound on his neck. Sunggyu took a step closer, frowning at the body.

Movement in the corner of his eyes caught Sunggyu’s attention. He swallowed thickly when he recognized familiar dark brown locks. The figure was hunched in the corner. His legs were bent, and his face was pressed into his knees. From his position, Sunggyu could see that the other was shaking badly.

“ _Woohyun_?” Sunggyu called, taking a few warily steps towards the other. The brunet didn’t respond. Sunggyu could feel his heart thump wildly in his chest as he lowered to his knees in front of the younger man. He called his name again, but there was still no response.

Sunggyu reached out, gently placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. But Woohyun greatly recoiled from the touch, sitting up straight and pressing his back against the wall. He let out a piercing scream that Sunggyu was sure would give him nightmares.

“Calm down, Woohyun! It’s me, Sunggyu,” his spoke in a low, calming voice, trying to cool down the brunet.

Woohyun swung his hands at Sunggyu, trying to get away. Sunggyu easily caught his hands, noticing that he was gripping _his knife_ tightly. It was doused in blood. As Woohyun struggled against Sunggyu, the latter noticed that the brunet was covered in blood. His hair was matted with it, and dried blood was smeared across his face. His wrists and neck were bruised. The utter terror in his eyes broke Sunggyu’s heart into infinitesimal pieces.

And Sunggyu had to fight down the surge of emotions he felt, seeing Woohyun’s torn shirt. He didn’t need to guess what Junhong had attempted to do to the young boy.

“Woohyun, please,” Sunggyu tenderly spoke, forcing the younger to release the knife in his hands. Woohyun continued to thrash in his hold. “No one is here to hurt you. It’s just me, okay? It’s _Sunggyu._ ” He let go of the brunet’s wrists and reached out, taking Woohyun’s face in his hands. “ _It’s your Sunggyu._ ” He pressed his forehead to Woohyun’s, forcing the younger to look at him. He felt quivering hands weakly push at his chest, but Sunggyu didn’t let up.

Sunggyu gently caressed Woohyun’s cheeks, repeating that it was just him, that it was Sunggyu. Woohyun blinked, hyperventilating. His eyes focused on Sunggyu, taking in his words.

“ _S-Sunggyu_?” Woohyun whispered, his voice cracking.

He gave the young boy a comforting smile. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s Sunggyu.” He could feel the tension in his body ease up, realizing that Sunggyu was there in front of him.

Woohyun opened his mouth, but no words came. His eyes flickered with relief, but Sunggyu could still see the utter and complete fear in them. “…here? Y-You’re h-here?” He had managed to finally say.

“Yes. I’m sorry. _I’m so sorry, Woohyun._ But I’m here now.” Sunggyu felt himself choke up at his own words. Woohyun closed his eyes, taking in a deep, shaky breath. His fingers clutched onto Sunggyu’s shirt, feeling the soft material.

He was here. It was real.

Sunggyu was here. Sunggyu was real.

To say that Sunggyu was relieved to find the brunet still here, still alive and safe was an understatement. He was so close to losing him. He swallowed thickly, willing the moisture in his eyes away.

He was here. He was safe.

Woohyun was here. Woohyun was safe.

When was the last time he had felt this much for someone?

“ _I’m… I’m sorry that my fingers slipped._ _But I promised that I_ _wouldn’t let you fall_ ; _I’m not letting you go, Woohyun_.”

Woohyun opened his eyes, his breath hitching at his words, and he couldn’t stop the tears that trickled down his cheeks. He looked into Sunggyu’s eyes. The fear he had felt was mirrored in the other’s eyes, but a set of emotions he couldn’t place were there too.

“I’m never letting you go, so it’s okay. I’m here now. Everything will be okay.”

Woohyun released a sob he didn’t know he had still left in him, and he felt Sunggyu pull him into his arms. He buried his face into the caramel haired man’s neck, weeping. Strong arms secured around him, rubbing comforting circles into his back, and for the first time since he had arrived in South Hallow, Woohyun had felt completely safe.

Sunggyu calmly whispered into his ear that everything was alright now. He was safe. He was there. He wasn’t falling. He wasn’t letting go.

It wasn’t long before Woohyun calmed down in Sunggyu’s arms. The room grew quiet only with the occasional involuntary gasps and hiccups from the brunet. It felt like hours that they just sat there in each other’s arms. Neither move. Neither made a sound. They were content.

“ _Holy shit_ ,” a voice exclaimed. Sunggyu felt Woohyun startle in his arms and press his face further into his neck, taking in a deep breath. Not wanting to move Woohyun, Sunggyu glanced over his shoulder. Sungyeol had his arm around L’s shoulder; the other had an arm around his waist, helping Sungyeol with his balance. There were bandages haphazardly around his middle. They were soaked in blood, but it seemed to help stop the bleeding.

Sungyeol’s eyes were widened as he took in the dead body of Junhong. L’s face was devoid of emotion, but Sunggyu could see confusion in his eyes.  “Was this the sniper?” Sungyeol asked. He looked to Sunggyu, taking in their position. “Is he…?”

The rebel leader looked down at the brunet in his arms. He was still clutching onto Sunggyu for dear life. He refused to acknowledge their presence. “He’ll be okay.” He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince.

“We should go,” L advised. “The longer we stay here, the more likely more of Yongguk’s people might come.”

“I agree,” Sungyeol nodded. “Plus, I’m kind of still bleeding here, getting shot and all…” He cringed in pain as L was already forcing him to leave the room.

As he heard their footsteps fade, Sunggyu mumbled, “Woohyun, we should go too.” The brunet nodded. He pulled away, albeit rather slowly. He looked at the caramel haired man before his eyes trailed to Junhong. Sunggyu could see the gears turning in his head. “Hey, look at me. Just look at me.” Sunggyu gently grabbed Woohyun by the chin, forcing the brunet to look at him. “Don’t worry about him. Worry about yourself. Everything will be okay. I’m here, okay?”

“Okay,” Woohyun whispered, his voice hoarse. Sunggyu gave him a small smile in return.

“Can you stand?” Woohyun nodded, doing as the elder wished. Sunggyu followed suit.

Woohyun stared at Sunggyu before directing his attention to the floor. He saw Sunggyu’s knife discarded on the ground. He eyed it for a moment before picking it up. “Thank you.” He mumbled, looking back up to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu’s eyes softened. That knife had saved Woohyun’s life. It was just a small weapon, but Sunggyu was grateful for holding onto it after all these years. Woohyun wouldn’t be here now with him if he hadn’t had the small blade.

“I want you to continue to hold on to it,” his hand wrapped around Woohyun’s that was holding onto the knife. He squeezed Woohyun’s hand, hoping to convey some feelings towards the younger.

“Okay,” he repeated, much quieter than before. He blinked before averting his eyes to their enveloped hands. A moment later, Sunggyu pulled away first, ushering the brunet out of the room. He made sure Woohyun didn’t look at Junhong.

When they reached the living room, L was by the entrance. He turned them. Sungjong was still sitting against the couch. His eyes were closed, but he opened them once he heard them walk into the room. Sungyeol was leaning against the door, holding on to his side. He threw a small glare at Sunggyu. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped immediately, taking in Woohyun’s appearance.

Woohyun looked down, avoiding eye contact. He adjusted his ripped shirt, pulling the collar up since the tear was great enough that it slid off his left shoulder.

Sunggyu clenched his fists, thinking about what Junhong must had done to him. Woohyun’s appearance was disheveled, but he couldn’t tell if Junhong had actually _did_ something before the brunet killed him. Sunggyu gritted his teeth as he walked over to Sungjong and picked up Woohyun’s discarded jacket next to him. He walked back over to Woohyun, placing the jacket over his shoulders. Woohyun took the initiative, putting on the hoodie and zipping it up. He gave a Sunggyu a small, grateful smile.

Junhong was lucky.

All he got was a fatal stabbed wound to the neck. If Sunggyu was in Woohyun’s position, he would had made Junhong regret ever being born.

“Sungjong,” Woohyun quietly called. “Are you okay? I was scared that you…” He trailed off, frowning.

Sungjong slowly stood up, holding onto the couch as support. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit dizzy from hitting my head.”

Woohyun gave a sigh of relief before looking to Sungyeol. Before he could ask the same to him, Sungyeol gave him a thumbs up. “Only thing wrong with me is that I can’t really see anymore,” he chuckled, holding up his broken red frames.

Sunggyu briefly glanced at everyone in the room, thinking exactly what to do next. Woohyun, Sungyeol, and Sungjong were in absolutely no shape to do anything. All three of them looked like they would collapse at any given moment. They needed to return to headquarters as soon as possible to get Sungyeol immediate medical attention.

At times like this, Sunggyu wished he wasn’t the leader of INFINITE. He could say or do the wrong thing and end of getting his comrades killed. It had almost happened today. The thought of making the wrong choice again and putting their lives in danger made Sunggyu scared.

He was just a kid.

He didn’t ask for these responsibilities.

“I think,” Sunggyu started. “It’s best if we split up getting back to HQ. It’s too dangerous for us all to head back in one big group. We would stick out in our current condition. Plus, despite everything, Bi _was_ telling the truth about his supply of medicines and weapons. That was our main priority, and we need to make sure it comes back with us. Sungyeol, L, and Sungjong, you go back together in the truck. As soon as you make it to HQ, please, _please_ get looked at.” He eyed Sungyeol’s wound. “Woohyun and I will head back in the other car, going in a different direction just to make sure no one can tail us properly. Once you three get situated back home, make sure the truck is dealt with properly and no one can trace it back to us. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the other four chorused.

Before today’s events, Sunggyu would had made Woohyun go back with the others while he headed off alone, but now he didn’t want Woohyun out of sight. He didn’t want to leave him alone. Not only because of what could possibly happen to him but also because he understood what the brunet had gone through. And he was sure, based on the distant look in Woohyun’s eyes, he wasn’t all there at the moment. He was traumatized, and leaving him alone to stew in his own thoughts could be detrimental.

As everyone piled out of the apartment, Woohyun didn’t move. He was staring at the shattered living room windows. “That’s where they came from,” he said before looking to Sunggyu. “Bi went down first. It was quick. I had never seen that much blood before.” He looked over to Bi’s body.

Sunggyu reached out, slipping his hand into Woohyun’s. “All that matters is that you all are still alive, right?” He gave a gentle squeeze. “It’s over, and I’m here now.”

“You’re here now,” Woohyun repeated, looking at Sunggyu.

“Let’s go home, Woohyun.” He tugged Woohyun forward, making him leave the apartment to catch up with the others.

“Home sounds nice.”

When they were outside, L was helping Sungyeol get into the supply truck that they had parked right outside of the building. Sunggyu let go of Woohyun’s hand and approached Sungjong, who was leaning against the side of the truck.

“You alright?” He worriedly asked.

“Just tired, and I have a major headache.”

“Get some rest when you get back, alright?” Sungjong nodded. Sunggyu glanced at L before pulling Sungjong away from the truck. “Listen, Sungjong, stay on your guard.”

“Okay?” His brows furrowed.

“I just… I need you to be careful,” he kept his voice low, making sure no one heard them. “I’ll explain when I get back home, but just don’t take your eyes off of L.”

“Why?” He frowned.

“Some things happened to us while we were gone too, and I don’t have the time to explain, but just please, Sungjong, keep your guard up. Keep an eye on Sungyeol, and don’t take your eyes off of L till you’re back at home.”

“Um, okay, Sunggyu.”

“I promise I’ll fill you in.”

“You better.”

Sunggyu chuckled, “Get home safe, kid.” He patted his shoulder. Sungjong smiled at him before walking passed him and up to Woohyun. He gave the brunet a hug, whispering something to him. Woohyun gave a small smile in return, patting the younger on the back.

“See you guys later! Get home safe,” Sungjong said, pulling away from Woohyun. He waved at the two older boys and then got into the truck. Sunggyu stood next to the brunet, watching the car pull off down the street before it took to the air and out of view.

“Let’s get to the other car.”

Woohyun followed Sunggyu down the street, trailing behind the rebel leader. Sunggyu tried to think of what he could possibly say to keep the brunet’s mind off of what had happened. Despite his earlier actions, he was never really good at comforting people.

When they finally reached the car, Woohyun wordlessly got into the passenger seat, keeping his eyes downcast. He buckled himself in, leaning his head against the window and staring aimlessly outside.

Sunggyu sat down in the driver’s seat, sighing. Woohyun reminded the rebel leader of _him._ He would become withdrawn after the experiments or after telling Sunggyu his joyful times from his childhood. He would grow quiet, tuning out everything and everyone else, keeping to himself. Sunggyu used to get annoyed at that habit, but he never voiced his opinions. He was sure he would be the same way after being forcibly taken from his time.

The caramel haired man gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. How had he not seen it before, the similarities? Not only were there physical similarities between the two, but their mannerisms were almost the same, though, Woohyun was a bit more outspoken. How had he not picked up on Woohyun being the younger brother of Boohyun? Though he had never said his name, Boohyun always talked about his little brother. So much that Sunggyu felt like he could write a book on the siblings.

It was obvious Woohyun didn’t know what happened to him. Up until today, he had never even mentioned having an older sibling. He remembered Kris briefly mentioning it back when they were in the BEQP, but a lot of those events were a bit of a blur to him since he was running on adrenaline half the time.

He wondered if Woohyun really was the younger brother of Boohyun. But there was no mistaking it. Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun, but all he was reminded of was of the sickly boy in the labs who made him promise an impossible promise.

Sunggyu turned the car on, pulling out of the alley and into the sky. Unlike the others, he and Woohyun would only be able to make the journey back home halfway with a car. Once they reached sector four, they would have to abandon the car. Every time INFINITE went on a mission and used a car, they made sure to get rid of it so that it couldn’t be traced back to the HQ’s location. Luckily, for them, Sunggyu knew of a few shortcuts that could get them down to sector two in a matter of a couple of hours. Plus, it was late enough in the evening that not many people would be roaming the streets, and they would be able to walk freely a bit.

“Sunggyu,” Woohyun’s quiet voice brought the older boy out of his thoughts.

“Hm?” He glanced at the brunet before directing his attention back to the front. He eyes were closed, still leaning against the window.

“Thank you for never letting go.”

“We promised to never let each other go, right?” Sunggyu remembered Woohyun making the same promise to him. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t go back on my words.” He took another glance at the younger boy and saw a small smile. A light dust of pink adorned his face, and Sunggyu couldn’t stop his heart from pulsating in ways it had never done before.

* * *

 

It wasn’t until another couple of hours later that the two reached the outskirts of sector four. Sunggyu had lowered the car to the ground, parking beside an abandoned warehouse. Light snores coming from Woohyun filled the car.

The rebel leader got out the car, pulling out his phone. He made a call to one of his many informants–ones much more trustworthy than Bi–and gave them the location and order to dispose of his car. Once he was done with the call, he walked over to the passenger side, opening the door. He leaned in unbuckling Woohyun’s seatbelt before gently shaking the young man awake.

Woohyun sat up with a start, gasping loudly. He gripped tightly onto his seat, the fear still evident in his eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Sunggyu soothed immediately, almost expecting the reaction.

“S-Sunggyu?” Woohyun breathed, looking up.

“It’s time to go.”

Woohyun emerged out of the car slightly disoriented. He examined their surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Sector four. We have to walk the rest of the way home. It won’t be long now, though.” Sunggyu urged him to follow. They quickly left the area.

Once they reached the main roads, their pace slowed down. As Sunggyu expected, there were barely anyone around, but just to be on the safe side, Sunggyu made Woohyun put up his hood, hiding his identity a bit.

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long they had been walking. Ten, twenty minutes? But Sunggyu suddenly stopped, gaining a raised brow from the brunet. He looked at Woohyun for a moment, a look of contemplation on his face. Woohyun looked around. There was nothing going on. No one was outside, but there were a few stores that seemed to be open. Since Woohyun had first traveled to South Hallow, this was the first time he had seen the streets this up close and personal and not had to worry about a raging lunatic with a rocket launcher blowing up everything. Everything looked normal. It reminded him of home.

“Sit here,” Sunggyu gestured to the bench next to them. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Woohyun asked, though, he sat down anyway.

“Just to pick something up,” he didn’t say anymore, dashing off around the corner.

Woohyun sighed, leaning back against the bench. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking. Dried, caked up blood was smeared across them. He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, closing his eyes. He could still feel the way Junhong’s blood oozed onto his face as Woohyun lodged Sunggyu’s knife into his neck.

A sudden warm and wet cloth was pressed to his cheeks. Woohyun jumped slightly, opening his eyes. Sunggyu was crouched in front of him, rubbing a wash cloth on his face.

“W-What are you–”

“There’s still… blood…”

Woohyun wondered what he must’ve looked like covered in all of his blood.

“I can do it myself, you know,” Woohyun protested, but he didn’t stop the caramel haired man.

“I know, but just let me do this.” Sunggyu had a look of concentration on his face. Woohyun could feel his face burn red with embarrassment. He looked down, not having the courage to look Sunggyu in the eyes anymore. “There,” he said, pulling away. He smiled at Woohyun before sitting next to him on the bench.

Woohyun went to rub his face. It felt a bit raw from Sunggyu scrubbing so hard, but the red painted on his hands stopped his movement. The sound of plastic drew Woohyun's attention. He saw the other rummaging through a plastic bag. A second later, he pulled out two wrapped ice cream cones.

“I wasn’t sure which flavor you’d like or if you liked ice cream at all so I just went with plain vanilla.” He handed Woohyun the dessert.

Woohyun took the treat, his eyes widening slightly. He eyed the treat, not opening it.

“Do… you not like it?” Sunggyu hesitantly asked, watching the younger’s reaction.

“No, no, it’s just…” He gave Sunggyu a big smile, opening the treat. “Thank you. I love vanilla. It’s my favorite flavor.” Sunggyu gave a small sigh of relief before opening his own. Woohyun took a few licks, savoring the flavor. He didn’t know how much he had missed ice cream. “What flavor did you get?” His was a light brown like milk chocolate.

“Kangaroo.”

And there went Woohyun’s appetite.

“How long till we get back home?”

“It shouldn’t long now. Maybe another ten minutes. We’re going to take a left up ahead,” Sunggyu pointed to emphasize. “And then an immediate right, down an alley. There’s a short underground tunnel that leads straight to sector two.” Woohyun nodded at the information, finishing up his ice cream.

And just like Sunggyu had said, there was an underground passage leading straight to the sector two. Woohyun was happy as they emerged from the tunnels and started to recognize some of the buildings in the area. He could see the entrance to the INFINITE headquarters from where he stood.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu called. Woohyun looked to him. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this, but…” Sunggyu stopped walking, frowning at the younger. He fidgeted, trying to think of the best way to ask his question.

But he needed to know.

“What’s wrong?” Woohyun quietly asked. He crossed his arms, slightly thrown off by the sudden hesitant Sunggyu.

“Junhong was the name of the guy,” Sunggyu started. And Woohyun instantly knew who he was talking about. He looked down. “I didn’t know him too well, but he was once considered an ally to me. We had gone on a few missions together. I know what kind of guy he was. I knew how…” He trailed off for a moment. “Woohyun, did he… did he force–”

“No,” Woohyun shook his head, meekly mumbling. “…But he tried.” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think of what Junhong tried to do. He tried to not think of what he had done. He opened his eyes, looking at his hands. He never knew how warm and thick blood could feel. He felt like vomiting.

“Thank god. I was… scared, you know?” Sunggyu confessed. Woohyun quickly looked up, surprised at his words. “We were ambushed when we got to the supply truck. It wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle, but I learned it was trap within a trap. When I learned what had possibly happened back at Bi’s, I never had been so… scared? I thought I had lost all of you. The mercenary we encountered–it wasn’t Tao–he said that they were just a distraction so they could kill Sungyeol and Sungjong and take you. I honestly don’t know what I would had done if they had actually succeeded.”

“Sunggyu…” Woohyun reached out, holding his hand. Sunggyu squeezed back in return. Woohyun have never seen Sunggyu look so vulnerable before as he spoke the truth. Sunggyu had always made himself seem willful and headstrong. He was a natural leader, showing off his strong bravado and others looked to him for guidance and direction. But Woohyun was sure the Sunggyu he saw in front of him was the real Sunggyu.

Just a kid being forced to promise impossible promises.

“I have already lost so many people I cared about, back when I was in the military and now while being the leader of INFINITE. Every day I wake up, I’m afraid that I’ll lose yet another one. I don’t know if I could continue doing this if I lost any of you. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t continue holding on to you.”

“I’m not letting go either, Sunggyu. I don’t think anyone in INFINITE will let go. You have us, like we have you. If we lost you, we wouldn’t know what to do either. I’m here too, you know.” Woohyun repeated Sunggyu comforting words. He could _see_ the tension lift off of the older boy.

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long they stood there holding hands, but the brunet wished for it to never end.

“Let’s go. Home is right there.”

They both walked hand-in-hand into the headquarters. Loud noises and cheers could be heard as they descended down the elevator. Once they reached the bottom floor, they noticed a big crowd in the center of the room.

“The Captain’s back!” Someone yelled.

“Yo, Sunggyu! Took you long enough!” People Woohyun didn’t know the names of but had seen often walking around HQ had approached them.

“We were starting to get worried, especially since Sungyeol, L, and Sungjong showed up first looking like they just came from war!” Someone had given Woohyun a nod, acknowledging his presence.

“Guess who else finally came back!”

“Gyu!” A squeal came from the crowd. A young girl looking no older than Woohyun came running from the center of the crowd, rushing up to Sunggyu. The sudden hug forced Woohyun to let go of Sunggyu’s hand.

Woohyun had to swallow the sudden lump in his throat.

He hadn’t heard that voice sound that young in years, but he definitely recognized it.

“What–When did you–?!” Sunggyu smiled brightly, embracing the girl. He swayed back and forth with the girl in his arms a bit before releasing her.

“Me and the others just returned about an hour ago!” The girl chuckled, pulling away from Sunggyu.

That smile.

That laugh.

The girl fixed her slightly ruffled hair, dark brown locks that was pulled into a loose ponytail and cascaded down her back. Woohyun found it hard to breathe.

Dark brown eyes turned to him.

He thought he would never look into those same eyes again.

“Who is this? Never seen you around before. You new?” She wrapped an arm around Sunggyu’s elbow, giving a friendly smile towards the brunet. She held up her other hand, greeting Woohyun.

“The name’s Bae Suji, but everyone just calls me Suzy.”

Huh.

His mother really was running around in this time, being a part of resistance group.

Being a part of INFINITE. 


	31. Sweet Disposition

Hetook a deep, shaky breath as he hugged himself. He pulled his knees up, his body shivering from the cold draft that swept his room. His bed sheets were bunched up around his feet, but he didn’t have the strength to pull them over his body.

Despite the chill, the sun beamed down into his room, filtering through the makeshift blinds he had demanded Hoya to make for him a few weeks back. His head lolled to the side, leaning against the wall. He stared ahead, thinking of everything and nothing.

Suji.

Bae Suji.

_Suzy_.

His mother.

How long had it been since that night? That night he had walked hand in hand with Sunggyu back into the headquarters of INFINITE only to come face-to-face with the young version of his dead mother? How long had it been since he met his mom?

A month?

Before he could even utter a word to Suzy, Sunggyu’s _childhood_ best friend–as Suzy had smugly put it–he had fainted, the day’s full events coming to the forefront of his mind, hitting him hard like a ton of bricks. He had woke up two days later in the infirmary screaming and Sungyeol glaring at him, calling him a drama queen.

He remembered the concern and relief in Sunggyu’s eyes as he had rushed into the infirmary after the doctors had alerted the rebel leader of his condition. The elder had bombarded him with questions upon questions, and Woohyun couldn’t help the blush that had covered his cheeks. He definitely preferred this Sunggyu over the distant and aloof one who glared at him all the time.

He had smiled, reassuring Sunggyu that he felt fine, but he had felt his words die down in his throat as he had noticed Suji– _Suzy_ –behind Sunggyu with her arms crossed and a frown marring her face. Woohyun was _very_ familiar with the expression and stance. He had lost count the amount of times that look had been directed towards him when he was younger. Woohyun had looked away, feeling uncomfortable in her presence. This wasn’t how he wanted to find his mother. Not like this. Suji had then reintroduced herself, pushing pass Sunggyu to stand by his bed, commenting on how pretty Woohyun’s name was.

The brunet had quietly snorted, wondering what her reaction would be years later when she gave birth to him and his father named him Woohyun.

Someone knocked on his door.

Woohyun glanced at it, but ignored it a moment later. He wasn’t in the mood to talk. He wasn’t in the mood to pretend to be _fine_ and smile like nothing had happened. What was there to be fine about?

He had killed someone.

He had killed Junhong.

Sure, it was out of defense. The man was hurting him, attempting to force himself onto Woohyun. But that didn’t change the outcome. The brunet knew that if he had hesitated, he wouldn’t be where he was now: in the safe confines of the INFINITE headquarters– _home._ He would be in the clutches of YG, and who knows what they would do to him.

But no matter how much he tells himself that it was necessary, that he could had been _raped_ , it doesn’t stop the images of a bloody and dead Junhong from haunting his dreams.

When he looks at his hands, his reflection in the mirror, all he sees is blood.

And no matter how much Sunggyu tells him that he is safe now, that he is there for him, to protect him, to keep holding on, it just doesn’t help. As sweet as the gestures are, Sunggyu _wasn’t_ there in time. He wasn’t there in time to save him. He may had made it out alive that day, but Woohyun hasn’t been feeling right since. He’s been feeling off, like a part of him died along with Junhong that day. But he doesn’t blame Sunggyu.

Not at all.

He may had not been there to stop what had happened, but he did save what was left of Woohyun.

There was more knocking, and the brunet heard his name being called, but he continued to ignore the presence, hoping they would give up.

After he had been discharged from the infirmary, Woohyun had locked himself away in his room, refusing to acknowledge anyone. He couldn’t gather the strength to do anything. Of course after being informed on what had completely gone down on the mission from Sunggyu, the main members of INFINITE had attempted to coerce Woohyun out of his room. But they had quickly found out how futile their endeavors were.

They began, one by one, taking the time out of their busy, rebellious days to at least get Woohyun to talk to them. Sungjong and Dongwoo were the only ones semi-successful in actually getting the brunet to talk. They were the ones to always bring him food or a snack, making sure the brunet wasn’t at least going to waste away in his room. When they came, Woohyun had refused to mention anything about the last mission, and most of the times, he had just gave them small, quiet replies with a chuckle and smile in between. That was enough for them, though, and they never pushed him on the topic, knowing how traumatized Woohyun was.

Whenever Hoya visited, he would usually bring his tablet with him with Sungyeol on the screen. The latter was still recovering from the gunshot wound and did not have the strength or _permission_ to leave his hospital bed. Of course that had frustrated the tech junkie because Sunggyu had promised him two months’ worth of vacation if he had survived, and one month of it had already been spent in the infirmary. Even if Woohyun wanted to talk and interact with Sungyeol, the latter never gave him a chance with his endless chatters of various equipment and technology that he had invented and was planning on showing to him once he was discharged. Hoya, on the other hand, would just sit next to him on the bed, just as quiet as the brunet. They would sit in a comfortable silence till Hoya needed to leave and attend to his duties. Woohyun would always give him a small nod and an appreciative smile.

L was the only one who had not come to check on the brunet, and Woohyun was just fine with that. He hadn’t developed a close bond with the younger like he had with the others. In fact, he was very uncomfortable in his presence. Something was off about the man, but he couldn’t pinpoint why.

The one person he wanted to see–to actually talk to–the one person that made his heart thump wildly in his chest, only came once. It was during his first week of being a recluse. Sunggyu had quietly entered his room and grabbed a chair, sitting next to his bed. He didn’t say anything at first, but the concern in his eyes was evident.

“Woohyun…” he had started but trailed off. He had seemed to be at a loss for words. His brows had furrowed, and he had tilted his head to the side, frowning. He had huffed, crossing his arms, but Woohyun didn’t mind. Being in his presence alone was enough to will his never-ending nightmares away. The comfortable silence didn’t last for long, though. Suzy had barged in a moment a later, blabbering to Sunggyu about something Woohyun wasn’t interested in. He sat on his bed, watching the two interact.

That genuine smile he had only seen a few times, the one that took Woohyun’s breath away, shone. He had laughed and chuckled at the little things Suzy had said, and Woohyun had wondered if they forgot they were in his room in the first place. Suzy had flipped her hair, leaning towards Sunggyu, and the brunet couldn’t help but give a small smile. Even at this age, _Suji_ was still the same. Her mannerisms and presence hadn’t changed.

She was pretty. Even her appearance hadn’t changed much over the years. Even on her deathbed, with her ashen face and deathly pale and haggard appearance, she was still pretty. Woohyun wondered if Sunggyu looked long and hard enough, would he be able to piece together that he and Suzy were related? That the girl, who was trying too hard to flirt with him, was the mother of the young man beside him?

Probably not. His mother had always said that he and Boohyun had looked more like their father than her.

“Can you guys, uh, do this somewhere else?” Woohyun had asked, trying his best to not sound rude. He either wanted to alone or be alone with _Sunggyu_.

As much as he had wanted to find Suji since the moment he had came to this time, he realized how ill prepared he was for actually meeting her. Memories of his childhood came to the forefront of his mind, the times when Suji had made it obvious that she didn’t care much for him, the reasons behind Boohyun leaving him alone with her at such a young age, watching her die in front of his very eyes. He wasn’t ready for this.

“Are you okay?” Sunggyu had asked, ignoring the annoyed huffed Suji had did.

“I’m fine, Sunggyu. I’m fine, but…” Woohyun had gripped his bedsheets, avoiding Sunggyu’s piercing gaze. “Can we… just not do this? I want to be alone.” He had felt like he was bursting at the seams. His heart had felt heavy, and his head ached. He couldn’t be in a room with _her_.

Sunggyu had been quiet for a moment before he stood up. Woohyun had refused to look at him. It wasn’t until a couple of minutes later that he had looked up only to see that both Sunggyu and Suji had left without him noticing. Woohyun wasn’t sure how long he had stared at the door. He wanted to apologize to Sunggyu. He wasn’t trying to sound rude or that he didn’t appreciate his effort to get him to open up. He just couldn’t do it. He wasn’t ready for _her_.

He hadn’t seen Sunggyu since, though.

And it’s already been a month.

“Woohyun?” A hand rested on his shoulder, and it took all of Woohyun’s strength to not scream. He did, however, quickly look to the source of the voice, backing away. He couldn’t get anywhere since his body was already pressed to the wall. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”

It took the brunet a moment to recognize the face in front of him. Familiar small, dark brown eyes looked back at him. Woohyun could see the concern, but another emotion was flickered in them. He couldn’t pinpoint it, though. Vexation? Irritation? Annoyance?

The other pulled away, sitting on the edge of his bed. His gaze stayed on the brunet.

“W-What are you doing here?” Woohyun blurted out. A sense of tranquil came over him after finally seeing the older after all this time, but it was hard calming down his beating heart. Being approached like that, so suddenly, all he could see and think about was Junhong.

“I run this place. I have the right to go into any goddamn room I want,” was the snarky reply Woohyun actually expected.

Woohyun lowered his legs, stretching them out in front of him. He sighed, looking towards his door. He assumed the other would show herself. Wherever the elder went, _she_ wasn’t too far behind.

“I’ve finally come to see you, and you ignore me? What do you take me for?” The other frowned.

Woohyun could tell that there was no actual bite behind his words this time, but the brunet didn’t have the energy to banter back. “Ah, I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect to see you so suddenly.”

“Whatever. I go through all this trouble to see you, and all I get is this mundane response. Did you know, back in the day, people used to _bow_ to me when I walked in a room?”

“Oh, when you were, like, thirty, old man?” Woohyun couldn’t help it. The longer he was in the other’s presence, the more alive he felt.

The older man gasped, placing a hand over his heart. “I’m only twenty three!”

“Old enough for me.”

“ _You little piece of_ …” Ah, there was the old rebel leader that threatened to hurt everyone–friend or foe–in his path just because of one little insult.

“Don’t worry; if you’re old, then I’m old too since I’m just a couple of years younger.” Woohyun couldn’t help but smile, though he knew it didn’t reach his eyes.

He missed this, talking to Sunggyu.

He got off the bed, stretching and popping his limbs. He felt the other’s eyes follow him.

Sunggyu was still sitting on his bed. He couldn’t help but take in Woohyun’s appearance. He was pale, almost as pale as the white sweater he was wearing. His hands were slightly shaking, and Sunggyu knew that Woohyun was barely holding on. There were obvious bags under his eyes; there was barely any life in them. When was the last time he got a full night of sleep? The caramel haired man reached out, grasping Woohyun’s wrist, pulling him a bit close to him. He took notice of how small it was. His fingers wrapped completely around it

“You’ve lost weight. Have you been eating?”

“I’m fine.” Woohyun deflected. He tried to pull his hand out of his grip, but Sunggyu didn’t relent.

“You don’t look it.”

“You don’t need to worry, Sunggyu.”

“I can’t help it. That’s all I do when it comes to you.” Sunggyu winced at his own words. Only in front of Woohyun would he lose his cool like that.

“ _W-What_?”

“Ah, never mind. Listen, I came here for a reason, and you’re going to do what I say, regardless if you like it or not.”

“Why?”

“I’ve… been worried,” Sunggyu admitted, releasing Woohyun. “Sungjong’s been telling me some things–”

“Like what?” He frowned.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t come to see you.”

Woohyun sighed, looking down. He picked at the hem of his sweater. “…You don’t need to, Sunggyu.”

“But I wanted to!” Sunggyu double winced. This was not working out the way he wanted.

Sungjong had given him a list–an _actually fucking piece of paper_ with doodles of him and Woohyun and hearts everywhere–of pointers on how to approach the sensitive, brooding brunet. Of course he had ignored it, balling up the paper and stuffing it– _literally_ –down his brother’s throat. He knew what needed to be done. He understood what Woohyun was going through. He had been through it over and over again.

“I was on a mission. Took a couple of weeks to complete,” Sunggyu continued. “Just some reconnaissance stuff. So I’ve been really busy, and I’m sorry.”

Woohyun looked up sharply. “By yourself?” Sunggyu nodded. “Really? You could’ve gotten–”

“Are you forgetting who you’re talking to? I’m the goddamn leader of the rebellion. I can handle a little reconnaissance mission by myself.” He smirked. “Anyway,” he stood up. “Come with me.” He grabbed Woohyun’s hand. “I’m tired of you shutting yourself in here. We need to get some fresh air into you, plus I want to show you something.”

Before Woohyun could even object to anything, a pair of shoes were thrown his way. After he put them on, he was roughly shoved out of his room and down the hall into the main area. Sunggyu ignored all forms of protest coming from the younger as he held his hand. The brunet flushed a heavy shade of embarrassment as all eyes landed on them.

“Gyu? When did you get back? Where’re you going?” A familiar voice called out. Sunggyu stopped, glancing over his shoulder. He saw Suzy jog over to him and Woohyun.

“Out,” he had simply responded. Woohyun could tell that Suzy was a bit peeved by that. She glanced at Woohyun, eyeing him. Her lips slowly morphed into a frown, noticing Sunggyu’s hand tightly clutching his.

“When did you get back?” She repeated, not taking her eyes off of their clasped hands.

“About an hour ago? Maybe less?”

“Aw, you didn’t tell me?” Suzy whined.

“Yeah, sorry,” he drawled, scratching his nape. He didn’t sound apologetic at all. “Listen, I can’t really talk right now, Suzy. I’m busy.” He walked passed a shocked Suzy, pulling Woohyun along with him. The brunet looked over his shoulder and saw the familiar look of open disdain on Suzy’s face.

“She talks too much,” Sunggyu mumbled to himself but loud enough for the brunet to hear, and Woohyun couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Sunggyu pulled Woohyun into the main elevator with him, pressing a few of the lift buttons. The doors shut, and the young man could feel the elevator shift upwards. He watched as they pass the main floor. He never really thought about it before, but the old abandoned warehouse that the headquarters were situated under was actually pretty tall, taller than most of the buildings in the immediate area.

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long they were in the elevator, for there were no floor signs, but he was sure it had almost been ten minutes. “Where are we going?” He asked.

“Whenever I have a hard time dealing with the past, I always come here.” The elevator dinged afterwards, alerting them of their destination.

Woohyun eyes widened and his mouth went agape as Sunggyu pulled him out of the lift. For such a shabby looking building, the brunet definitely wasn’t expecting this.

They were outside on the roof. From where he stood, he had a clear, beautiful view of the never-ending sunset colored sky. The sun itself was high in the sky, shining down onto the two. Woohyun raised his hand to block the blinding light.

He took a few careful steps, examining their surroundings. Woohyun hadn’t seen this much greenery and nature since coming to this time. In the center of the roof was a small circular raised platform covered in grass. Surrounding it were pots among pots of flowers and shrubs. It was a rooftop garden.

The grass and shrubs were a beautiful shade of green, healthy and full of life. It was obvious they were well taken care of. The brunet walked further ahead, letting go of Sunggyu’s hand. He toed off his shoes, stepping up onto the platform. He could feel the dew of the grass dampen his feet. He curled his toes, enjoying the feeling. It made him a bit homesick. He used to take longs walk through the park by his old home, early in the mornings when even the birds themselves were still sleeping. Those moments helped Woohyun get through the days; it was somewhat of an escape for him, when living with his mother became too much, when dealing with the sudden disappearance of his brother.

“This… is really beautiful,” Woohyun complimented. “Did you cultivate this all on you own?”

Sunggyu nodded, “When I was kid, my mom used to grow plants in front of the orphanage. During her free time, she used to show me how to plant the seeds and maintain herbs and flora.” He took off his own shoes, stepping up onto the platform afterwards.

He couldn’t help smiling, taking delight in the way Woohyun explored the garden.

It was cute.

“What would your enemies say if they knew that the infamous leader of INFINITE tended to a garden on the roof of his own HQ?” Woohyun chuckled, crouching down in front of a bed of lilies.

Sunggyu gave a hearty laugh, “Hey now, don’t make fun of my hobby.”

Woohyun shook his head, chuckling and giving Sunggyu a smile. He stood up, stepping off of the platform and walking to the edge of the roof. He leaned over the railing, looking down. They were so high up, he couldn’t see the bottom. He didn’t know the building was this tall. How had none of INFINITE’s enemies discovered this place?

“It just goes on and on,” Woohyun looked up. The buildings around them were even taller. South Hallow was truly a big city. And if he squinted hard enough, he could see the cars of this time flying and zooming about in the distance.

“Technically, we’re in sector three. If were up a couple of more flights, we would pass the borders of sector four.” Sunggyu sat down on the grass in the middle of the garden. The brunet didn’t know what to say to that. This world, this time was truly amazing.

Woohyun pulled away from the railing, walking back to Sunggyu. He sat down next to the elder, leaning back on his outstretched arms. His shoulders brushed with the others. He looked forward, enjoying the beautiful view.

“I,” Sunggyu started, taking a deep breath. He brought Woohyun here for a reason. “Killed someone for the very first time when I was ten years old.” He felt Woohyun stiffen next to him. But this wasn’t the time to beat around the bush–which wasn’t a problem since he was a very blunt person in general–and Woohyun needed to hear this. “A group of had soldiers bust down the doors to my home, gunning down anyone who tried to put up a fight down. Including my mother.”

“ _Why_?” Woohyun quietly asked, his brows furrowing into distress. He sat up properly, giving Sunggyu his full attention.

“Around this time was when our country began going to war against the neighboring nations to the north and east. South Hallow was just a small country being run by power hungry people, who didn’t understand the concept and the true meaning of war. YG and his people all sat behind the front lines, _forcing_ their own people to do the battling. And when there was too much bloodshed and disorder and barely any soldiers left alive to continue the fight, they came hammering down on every door in the city–no matter the sector–threatening every able bodied man, woman, and child to take part in their unjustly crimes.

“And when I was ten years old, soldiers came crashing through our doors on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, trying to round up everyone they saw. The only adult present was my mother. It was complete pandemonium–everyone was screaming and crying. The kids that had put up a fight were shot down. The ones that had tried to escape were hunted down and brutally executed.”

Woohyun’s heart ached at Sunggyu’s words. He tenderly reached out, grasping Sunggyu’s hands. They were clenched tight, his knuckles turning pale white. He could _feel_ the tension coming from the other. Sunggyu looked down, squeezing Woohyun’s hand in return.

“Barely any of us escaped. Only a few, I think. _Suzy_ was one of them. She was one of the many orphans that I grew up with and the only one I know that is still alive.”

“Suzy?” Woohyun frowned. Sunggyu nodded. This was the first time he heard about that. His mother had never once mentioned about being raised in an orphanage. But then again, who would _truly_ want to voluntarily talk about their home being destroyed and barely making it out alive. But this would explain why Suzy seemed to be so close to Sunggyu. They really were childhood best friends.

“My mother, she had put up a fight. She had put up _one hell of a goddamn fight_. She didn’t stop fighting till her last breath.”

"What happened?" Woohyun dared to ask.

"I think she saw it coming. She was expecting it. While everyone ran for their lives, she calmly stood there, preparing to defend our home. My grandfather had taught her how to fight, so she didn’t make it easy for them." Sunggyu took another deep breath, closing his eyes. It’s been thirteen years, and it was still painful just even thinking about it. “She took down ten soldiers with just a gun and the knife I gave you. And it took another five soldiers just to subdue her. Thanks to her, some of the children were able to escape capture.”

Woohyun looked down at their entwined hands. The other’s mother sounded like a true hero; he would had loved to met her and thank her. The knife that Sunggyu gave him, that protected and saved his life, originally came from her. In a way, he was indebted to her. “She sounds amazing.”

“She was,” Sunggyu gave a small, sad smile.

“…Did you escape with the others?”

Sunggyu was quiet for a moment before continuing. Woohyun flinched slightly, feeling Sunggyu subconsciously tighten his grip on the younger. “No, I…” He momentarily hesitated. “I didn’t do anything. I was too scared to do anything. Seeing the people that I loved and grew up with being shot down before my very eyes, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t see. While everyone either ran or fought for their lives, I hid.”

* * *

 

_Sunggyu drew a deep, shuddering breath, pressing his face into his knees. All he could hear were their unending screams and the unceasing gunshots. He squeezed his eyes tightly, placing a hand over his ears, wishing for the nightmare to end, but the pain in his arm from where a bullet had grazed his skin was a dreadful reminder that this was all a reality._

_The door to his bedroom slammed open, and it took all of the ten year old’s strength to not make a sound. He pressed his hands over his mouth as he pressed back into the corner of his closet. The shutters on the closed closet doors gave Sunggyu enough room to see but, fortunately, not be seen himself._

_The child could feel tears trickle down his face as he watched a tall, burly man walk into his room. He recognized his country’s emblem donned on the soldiers shoulder. He searched the room, looking under his bed, kicking and destroying every little piece of furniture that got in his way._

_How did this man get up here? Where was his mother? Did they get her? Did they kill here?_

_These thoughts alone shattered the young boy’s heart, and he couldn’t help but release a tiny, little sob. The soldier rummaging in his room stilled for a moment before looking towards the closed closet doors. Sunggyu bit his lips, trying his best to stop the sobs from coming._

_Just as the soldier reached for the knob of the closet, shuffling could be heard from the hallway outside. The soldier pulled away, eyeing the space Sunggyu had hid himself in before making his way towards the bedroom door._

_Sunggyu released a breath he was not aware of holding. He wiped the tears that were still dripping down his cheeks as he stretched his legs out. Not paying any mind to his immediate surroundings, his foot accidentally bumped into his small stuffed rabbit, activating the voice mechanism within the toy._

_“_ Let’s be the best of friends forever! _”_ _The voiced declared loudly, echoing in the closet. Sunggyu froze, his mouth going agape. His eyes widened, and he didn’t need to look to the footsteps that approached the doors to know what was about to happen. The joggling of the door knobs had Sunggyu whimper in fear. He reached for the small bunny, hoping to use it as some form of protection, even though he knew it would be useless._

_“Sunggyu,” a familiar voice whispered, and said child whipped his head up to look into the eyes of his beloved mother crouching down in front of him. The young boy quickly scampered into his mother’s embrace, sobbing into her shoulder. “Sunggyu, honey, are you hurt?” She asked, running her fingers through the boy’s raven locks, trying to calm him down. It was working, for his cries turned into small, involuntary gasps. Sunggyu shook his head, giving a small hiccup. He lifted his head a bit, looking over her shoulders._

_The soldier that had busted into his room was dead on the floor in the hallway. Blood was oozing from the stab wound on his chest._

_“We need to go, Sunggyu, before more soldiers come.” His mother warned, pulling Sunggyu to his feet._

_“N-N-No,” he shook his head again. He stretched his arms forward, wanting to stay in his mother’s embrace. “I’m scared, mommy!”_

_“I know, honey, but it’s too dangerous for us to stay here now. It’ll only get more scary if we stay.”_

_“B-But–”_

_“Well, well, well,” a voice chuckled. The mother and child looked to the bedroom door to see a group of soldiers standing there. “When my men were telling me that they were getting their asses beaten by a_ woman _, I thought these fuckers were lying.”_

_Sunggyu’s mother pushed her son stand behind her as she aimed her gun at the soldiers._

_“Who taught you how to fight, girl?” The man asked, walking into the room. He wasn’t perturbed by the fact that the young woman was ready to shoot him. He had an helmet on, covering his face completely, but the amount of stars and insignia’s embellishing the man’s uniform indicated that he was of high ranking._

_“My father.”_

_“Well, based off of the execution style done on all of my men, your father was quite the accomplished fighter.”_

_“He was.”_

_“May I know of his name? We could use someone like him.”_

_“He’s dead.”_

_“Such a shame,” he sighed. He took off his helmet, revealing his face. The soldier had a gray-white fringe that appeared to be thinning along the scalp. A long, deep gashed stretched across his closed right eye. The scar was an ugly shade of light pink and white, expanding a bit over the damaged eye. It was obvious he had been through his fair share of battles._

_“Who are you?”_

_“Ah, no one too important: just an old man, trying to complete his missions and set a good example for the young ones.”_

_“Mommy…” Sunggyu whimpered, pulling on the hem of her shirt that was smear with blood. She ignored him, not taking her eyes off of the soldiers in front of them._

_“Normally, we would kill someone, like you, for rebelling, but you’re good. We could use someone like you in our ranks.”_

_“Like hell I would ever join you all,” she sneered._

_“Then we’ll take your son.”_

_“As if that would ever happen!”_

_“We’ll see. Boys!” The old soldier gestured to the young woman, and the group of soldiers that were still standing in the hallway rushed into the room to apprehend the woman._

_Sunggyu screamed as his mother roughly pushed him back into the closet before pulling the trigger on the few men that got close to her. His back pressed to the wall, and he slowly slid to the ground as he watched his mother fight for their lives._

_It felt like everything had slowed down as his mother was slammed to the ground. He swallowed thickly, his breathing picking up as the gun his mother was armed with slid across the run; its clip completely emptied. Her knife was clutched tightly in her hand._

_The old soldier ordered for the soldiers that were pinning her to the ground to move. He took their spot, violently slamming his foot on her head. Screams reverberated in the small bedroom, and Sunggyu wasn’t sure whose scream was louder, his or his mother’s._

_The old man was saying something, but Sunggyu didn’t hear. His eyes were focused on his mother’s. She stared back, her mouth wide open as she continuously screamed. She released her knife, stretching her hand across the carpet towards Sunggyu. The foot on her head moved away._

_The young child crawled on his hands and knees towards his dear mother, calling for her over and over again. As he got closer, he immediately grasped her hand, pulling it to his chest. Tears clouded his vision; his cheeks were red from the exertion. The hand that he gripped clenched back._

_“Sunggyu,” she weakly called; blood spilled from her mouth. “I love–”_

_A gunshot echoed in the room._

_And Sunggyu gasped, freezing up. His eyes widened. Warm, red liquid dribbled down his face, mixing with his tears. His brain couldn’t comprehend the new gaping hole in his mother’s head. The hand in his grew slacked, and Sunggyu had to remember to breathe._

_With all the strength that was still left in his small body, he looked up and saw the old soldier, pointing a gun to his own head. He said some words, but Sunggyu didn’t hear. He couldn’t hear anything._

_Nothing, except his own heartbeat, thumping wildly in his ears._

_He looked down back to his dead mother, watching as blood gushed from the wound. There was some shuffling in the background, and Sunggyu noticed that the soldiers were piling out of the room but remained in the hallway. The old man and another soldier stayed behind, their backs to the mother and child._

_Sunggyu swallowed thickly, looking at the old man. All he could see was red. He felt his blood boil with rage. His young mind couldn’t understand the pain and misery he was feeling. His hand reached out for the knife his mother always kept on her. The blade was drenched in the blood of the soldiers his mother had slain._

_He gripped the weapon, rising to his feet. His felt his body move on its own accord. There were shouts and yells and gunshots were ringing in his ears, but none of it mattered as he screamed and lunged at the old soldier, burying his knife into his jugular vein with dead accuracy._

_The old man fell to the ground with Sunggyu on top, and the young boy pulled the knife out only to plunge it back into the man over and over and over again. It wasn't until blood splattered across his cheeks and covered his hands that he had realized what he had done. His hands froze, looking down at the dead man below him. The man’s eyes and mouth were wide open; a look of surprise evident on his features. Sunggyu's eyes trailed to his own hands, finally taking in all of the blood that covered them. He felt sick to his stomach. He had just killed the man who had killed his mother. He let out a gut-wrenching scream as arms wrapped around him, tossing him off of the dead, old man._

_He landed on his back with a painful thud. His head lolled to the side, staring into the distant, cold eyes of his dearest mother. He drew a deep, shuddering breath, stretching his small hand out to her, but a painful kick to head effectively knocked him out._

_His mother’s knife still tightly clutched in his hand._

* * *

 

“Next thing I knew, I woke up in a small infirmary in a military base miles away from the city strapped to the bed…” Sunggyu trailed off, wondering if he had the time to go into his life in the military. Woohyun’s hands were still in his. He looked down, rubbing a thumb over the knuckles. His skin was soft. A quiet sniffle caught his attention, and he looked over to the younger boy.

Woohyun’s eyes were shut tight, but it didn’t stop the tears that ran down his cheeks. His other hand was pressed to his mouth, muffling his sobs.

“Hey, why are you crying?” He frowned. “If anyone should be crying, it should be me.” His joke fell on deaf ears as Woohyun vigorously shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he cried. He pulled his hand out of Sunggyu’s and rubbed his eyes, trying to stop the tears.

The caramel haired man scratched his neck. He told his story to help Woohyun realized that he wasn’t alone in this, that Sunggyu understood what it meant and how it felt to take a life and not be okay with it. He had hoped talking about this would get Woohyun to open up about what had happened and help the younger move on. But he didn’t think that the brunet would turn into a crying mess.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu sighed. “It was a long time, alright? Everything’s over. I’ve… gotten over it. So there’s no need for you to cry. I already did enough crying to last an entire lifetime.” He reached out, pulling Woohyun’s hands away and replaced them with his own, wiping the tears away.

“…H-How?” Woohyun stuttered, taking in a deep breath. His eyes fluttered opened.

“Hm?”

“How did you get over something like _that_? _Your mother_ … and then you–”

“It’s been thirteen years, Woohyun. I had a lot of time to think over it. It still is painful, thinking about her, thinking about my friends and family that I had lost. And sometimes my dreams are a never-ending loop of that day, and I wake up with the dead face of that soldier on my mind and what it felt like killing him, but I came to terms with it a long time ago.”

“I was so scared, Sunggyu,” Woohyun admitted, more tears trickling down his cheeks. And Sunggyu continued to gently wipe them away. “Every time I close my eyes, I see _him_.” Ah, this is what Sunggyu wanted. He wanted Woohyun to talk about it. “I can’t sleep. I can barely eat. _He almost_ … _he almost_ …” Another sob erupted from the brunet.

“But he didn’t and that what’s important,” Sunggyu’s heart ached as Woohyun continued to cry.

“He was going to kill him–Sungyeol–but I stopped him. I tried to use the gun you gave me, but–” he let out an involuntarily gasped. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pull the trigger. _And there was so much blood_. Sunggyu I killed someone.”

“Yeah, and if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be here right now. And then what? _He_ would had killed my brother; Sungyeol would had died. And you would be gone, and who knows what they would had done to you. I _know_ what goes on in the labs of the BEQP. I have witnessed with my own eyes the inhumane experiments they did on their own people. _My best friend_ died because of the experimentation done upon him. I know you hate _this_ , this world, this government, these people who run South Hallow. I know you want the violence to end. I do too, Woohyun.

“Do you think I am happy, risking my life and all those I care about every day? Do you think I’m happy with the amount of blood my hands are covered in? If I could, I would turn back time and take everything back. But these people, _YG and his_ people, they are the kinds of people who don’t deserve a second a chance, who don’t deserve to live in this world. I know you wish to go back home, and I so dearly wish to take you back there myself. But I can’t. I don’t have the means or the knowledge of sending you home. And the ones that could, would rather probe and experiment on you day in and day out till there was nothing, till you were no more, or till they found the answers and discarded whatever was left of you.

“I know you’re traumatized, Woohyun. I know what you’ve been through. I know what’s it’s like to take someone’s life, and not be able to sleep or eat or function. I felt sick to my stomach.  I was a soldier for seven years, and I was ordered to kill foes and friends alike on a daily basis. Not a day goes by where thoughts of ending my life flooded my mind. But there are too many people in my life now that I need to protect, and you’re one of the main ones, Woohyun. You killed someone. You killed someone, Woohyun. But thanks to you, Sungjong and Sungyeol are still alive. You saved their lives by killing Junhong, and I am forever in your debt.”

Sunggyu exhaled deeply, his face warm from the long confession. His hands were still on Woohyun’s cheeks, but his tears had stopped long ago. The brunet was staring back at him with mild surprise.

“You’re,” Woohyun was at a lost for words, his voice slightly hoarse from all the crying, “really something, Sunggyu.” His eyes flickered down, a small smile playing on his lips. He didn't know what to say. What could he say to that, though?

“I better be,” the older chuckled. “I don’t just take anyone to my _super-secret garden_ and tell them about my past.”

“I feel so special and wanted,” Woohyun laughed alongside him, smiling. Leave it to Sunggyu to make him feel better.

“Only for you,” he smiled as well.

“You have such a pretty smile,” Woohyun blurted out, and a moment later, his face turned a deep shade of red. He covered his mouth. He didn’t mean to say it. Well, no that’s a lie. He did mean to, but only in his head! He kept his mouth shut, afraid he would blurt out anything else that could possibly get him a broken nose. He loved the calm and sweet Sunggyu over the raging lunatic Sunggyu.

And it was in that moment that Woohyun had finally realized the emotion that flickered in the other's eyes for a brief second, and a hand peeled Woohyun’s own hand off of his mouth. Sunggyu’s other hand shifted from his cheek to his nape as he leaned in, his breath mingling with the brunet’s. “If mine is pretty, then yours is beautiful.”

And the next thing Woohyun knew, Sunggyu’s warm lips were on his.


	32. Echo of Memories

Thered head sighed, adjusting himself in his seat. He glanced down at his wristwatch. He had been here for the past four hours. The smell of anesthetics infiltrated his nose. The annoying, constant beeping noise rang throughout the large lab.

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

God, he hated hospitals with a _vengeance_.

His eyes fell upon the young man who occupied the hospital bed in front of him. His breathing was labored. He clenched and unclenched his bed sheets. His stomach twisted in painful and nauseous ways from glancing at all of the tubes and needles injected into his skin. He didn’t know what was being administered into the young man and wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

The red head fidgeted in his chair. His legs were restless. He was bored. He had been sitting in this same chair, in this same room, in this same building for the past four hours. The young man wasn’t a happy camper. He sighed again, massaging the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes, slouching a bit in his uncomfortable seat. 

Himchan told him to meet him _here_ , but where was he?

“Sunggyu…?” A weak voice called out.

The red head sat up properly, looking over to the young man in the hospital bed next time to him.

“Sunggyu, what are you doing here?” He asked; his voice hoarse.

“I’d like to know that too,” the red head mumbled, frowning. He sighed for a third time before leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “How’re you doing, Boohyun?”

“I’ve been better,” the other chuckled, giving a bright smile to the younger boy.

_Even to this very day–Sunggyu still couldn’t understand how despite everything that had happened to him–how could Boohyun still smile like there was no trouble in the world?_

“How come you’re here? Not that I’m complaining, though,” Boohyun continued, slowly sitting up in his bed. Sunggyu wanted to help the struggling boy, but he had learned his lesson the first time he had tried to help Boohyun.

_“Just ‘cause I’m connected to all these damn wires and it looks like I’m going to drop dead at any given moment doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”_

“Himchan told me to meet him here with you, _four hours ago_ ,” Sunggyu pouted.

Boohyun laughed, “Himchan has told me many times that he would come to visit me at certain times but never show up till much, much later. You’re his best friend, right? Shouldn’t you be used to this?”

“I should, shouldn’t I?” Sunggyu exhaled.

“What did Himchan want? Why meet here?”

“I’m not too sure. He didn’t specify. He just said, ‘come here at the usual time; I have some great news.’ If he doesn’t hurry up, I’m going to have to go back. I have rounds in the morning.” Boohyun hummed at that.

Both boys grew quiet, stewing in their own thoughts. Sunggyu was curious about what Himchan wanted to tell him and Boohyun.

Not only curious but _worried_.

Himchan hadn’t been looking too well as of late. He has been dropping more and more weight, his skin turning a ghastly pale white. He’s been looking like a walking corpse, and Sunggyu was scared for the younger.

After being introduced to Boohyun a couple of months back, Sunggyu and Himchan had been making regulars visits to the older boy for a few hours at the dead of night. Even though both Sunggyu and Himchan were high-ranking soldiers and they can get away with walking around the base and being in certain off-limit areas after curfew, the labs he was currently in were forbidden to even someone of his status.

Only certain personnel had access to this room. Himchan had access since these labs were solely dedicated to Project K.O.T but that didn’t mean he could go meandering about after midnight. It took a lot of planning and sneaking around for Himchan to get Sunggyu a copy of his keycard so that the latter had access to the labs as well.

“Have I ever told you of the time my brother and I went to the park and he fell in the pond?” Boohyun broke the silence. A small smile played on his lips.

Sunggyu shook his head, leaning back in his chair. He always loved hearing Boohyun’s stories. The way the other explained everything with such vivid detail, Sunggyu could almost imagine himself standing there in _his time_ watching the event as they were untold.

“Well, there’s this beautiful park close to where we lived. Remember how I told you it was kind of a pain living and dealing with my mom? When it all became too much to handle, and when it was obvious that my little brother was bothered by my mom’s actions, I’d take him to this park to cool off some steam. At the park, there is this enormous pond in the middle that have these small pipes jutting out from the bottom of the lake that shot out a small stream of water every couple of minutes. So it was kind of like a pond and a fountain at the same time, I guess.

“Anyway, this _one time_ , my brother–he was like ten at the time, and I was fourteen, I think– was feeding some ducklings at the pond–there was, like, four of them–and…” he trailed off for a moment, cackling suddenly. “I left him alone for, like, a couple of minutes to buy some snacks. I didn’t even get a chance to buy anything because the moment I turned around, he started screaming. I heard this huge splash, and I turned around only to see my brother flapping around in the lake with a swarm of swans and geese chasing after him. I had to record it! It was too damn funny–you should had saw his face!”

Sunggyu couldn’t stop the grin that formed on his face as he watched Boohyun laugh uproariously over his little story. He couldn’t decide what was funnier: hearing his brother being attacked by ducks or watching Boohyun try and retell it while laughing the entire time.

To say that Sunggyu enjoyed spending time with Boohyun was understatement. If he could, he would stayed by the elder’s side all the time, listening to his stories. When Himchan had first introduced him to Boohyun, he was a bit hesitant at first. He had heard some details about what Project K.O.T was about it, and he had listened to some of the rigorous training and procedures Himchan had to go through for the project to be successful, but he honestly thought that the process of time traveling was just some sort of cover up for whatever YG and his people were planning next for South Hallow and their enemies. But when he had met Boohyun and had learned of who he was and the time he had came from, he started to truly-as Himchan had put it- _open his eyes_.

After Boohyun’s laughter died down, he grew quiet, looking down. He clutched his bedsheets, frowning slightly. “I miss him, Sunggyu. I miss him so much.”

“I’m sure you do,” Sunggyu reached out and patted Boohyun’s back. He wished he could say more for the other, but Sunggyu was never really good at consoling others. It didn’t help that he didn’t really know what it felt like to be separated from a younger sibling that you had loved and doted on most of your life. Sure, there were the other children in the orphanage that his mother had raised and taken care of, but they were just other kids. And it had been seven years since _then_. He barely remembered any of their names and faces.

But he did know what it felt like to lose a family member in general.

“He must think I hate him…”

“Why would you say that?”

“First I left him all alone with our mother. It was hard enough for the both of us to equally deal with her and her antics, but I left him, and he had to handle her all on his own. And now…  I can’t even be there for him at all. He must think I hate him or something.

“During our last conversation, I asked him to come live with me. I didn’t want him living in that toxic environment any longer. But he refused, though. He said, ‘we’re all she has left in this world. If I leave too, who will take care of her? Who will love her? She’s sick; and she may not _love_ us, but she’s still our mother. I can’t leave her alone.’ That was the last night I saw him, Sunggyu. And how long has it been since I’ve been _snatched_ from my time? Six months? I’ve lost count. He probably thinks I’ve abandoned him.”

“Don’t say that.” Sunggyu consoled. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like he loves you a lot. He cherishes you deeply. I’m sure he’s more worried about what happened than thinking you hate him...”

“You’d really like him, Sunggyu,” Boohyun mumbled. “I’m sure you two would be good friends. My brother, he’s clumsy and stupid and cries a lot and he always gets into serious trouble because of that mouth and sharp tongue of his, but he’s a sweetheart and always tries to please those around him.”

“Honestly, he sounds like someone I’d immediately punch in the face upon first meeting.”

Boohyun gave a hearty laugh at Sunggyu’s comment, but his face suddenly contorted into pain and began coughing and hacking. One hand clutched his bedsheets, while Boohyun’s other hand pressed against his mouth, smothering the sound.

Sunggyu quickly stood up, looking for anything to give the younger to help deal with the sudden coughing. Before he could leave, though, Boohyun reached out for Sunggyu, stopping him in his tracks.

“No, don’t,” he wheezed through his hacking. “I’m fine; I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine to me,” Sunggyu scowled. Boohyun shook his head again, covering his mouth as the coughing persisted. The redhead reluctantly sat back down as the other’s coughing fit finally began to die down.

“Trust me,” he moved his hand away from his mouth, and Sunggyu had to grip the arms of the chair he sat in as anger built up inside of him. “There’s nothing that can be done.”

Blood covered Boohyun’s hands.

“What are they doing to you?” Sunggyu questioned.

“What _aren’t_ they doing to me?” He rubbed his mouth, smearing the red liquid across his lips. He then wiped his hands on the bedsheet, not caring about dirtying them.

Sunggyu knew that the scientist of the BEQP had been performing some very fucked up experiments for a long time, but he never knew to what extent.

“What are they giving you?” He reached out, hesitantly touching one of the various tubes injected into Boohyun. The liquid inside was a revolting light green.

Boohyun flinched away, glaring at the younger. “Don’t act all ignorant to what’s been happening to me, Sunggyu. I know _you know_ damn well what’s been going on!” Boohyun accused. “Haven’t you seen Himchan as of late? He’s looks no better than me! Hell, I’m pretty sure whatever fucked up stuff your _people_ are doing to me, it’s worse for him!”

“I–” Sunggyu was at a loss for words. What could he say? No, he wasn’t blind to how Himchan’s been _physically_ changing as of late. He’s been scared of what has been happening to his friend. But what could he say? ‘ _Hey, whatever the scientist are doing to you for Project K.O.T, you should stop. You look like a fucking corpse._ ’ If anyone heard Sunggyu try and persuade Himchan from dropping out of the project, both he and Himchan would be killed.

But, Sunggyu was tired.

Sunggyu was tired of everything.

Sunggyu was so tired of everything YG and his people and the BEQP has been doing for a long time. He wasn’t sure how long he could continue to hold up the façade of everything being perfectly fine. How long could he go on _acting_ like Himchan was fine? How long could he continue his duties and mission and continue to kill innocent people day in and day out? How long was he going to continue to visit Boohyun late at night to listen to his stories while each day he was slowly dying?

Sunggyu was reaching his breaking point, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he was going to last. Something needed to change. This world needed to change.

Sunggyu needed to change.

“I want to go home, Sunggyu,” Boohyun whispered, pulling the young man out of his thoughts. “I want to go back home. I miss my brother. I… miss my mom. I don’t want to be here anymore. _Why me? Why me, Sunggyu_?”

Sunggyu wondered the same.

Every day, every second, and with every breath he took.

Why him?

Why any of them?

What had they done to deserve any of this?

“What is all this racket?” A voice complained. A group of footsteps echoed in the large labs, heading in Sunggyu and Boohyun’s direction. The redhead held his breath. No one was supposed to visit this late except for Himchan. He looked around for a moment, wondering if he could get away and hide. However, there was no point. All Sunggyu could hope for was that the group approaching weren’t the type to kill insubordinate soldiers on the spot.

The redhead sat perfectly still, watching as four shadows appeared on the hospital curtains that surrounded them. Boohyun gripped his bedsheets, looking down. Sunggyu could _feel_ the fear emanate from him.

The curtains surrounding them were abruptly pulled to the side, and Sunggyu came face-to-face with Himchan and three other people he’d hope to never come across down here in the labs. The redhead couldn’t help the look of surprise etch on his face as he slowly stood up. Besides Himchan, the others mirrored Sunggyu’s expression. The latter swallowed thickly.

“Of all people to be snooping around down here, I definitely didn’t expect it to be you,” one of the men said, pushing up his glasses. Confusion faded away to a blank expression on his face. “Did you know about this?” He glanced at Himchan.

“Uh…” Panic briefly flickered in his eyes as he looked to Sunggyu for the answer. “No, Dr. Wu… I was not aware General Kim would be down here,” He lied, looking down with a guilty face. The redhead wasn’t angry about Himchan lying, though. To be honest, he would had done the same. In their line of work, technically, there were no such things as friends and allies. If one wanted to live to see another day, every now and again one would have to lie and cheat and play others in order to scrap by.

Sunggyu glanced at the doctor, who was standing to Himchan’s right. He had only met the man a few times, and most were just in passing. The man was still fairly new to the BEQP, only being made the head scientist–alongside Kim Joonmyun– half a year ago.

A little before Boohyun was brought to this time.

This was the first time he was directly addressed to by the doctor himself.

The young man to Himchan’s left tsked, frowning deeply. His usual long brown hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. “Oh, please. These two are so buddy-buddy all the time; he had to know. There’s no way he could had gotten down here unless _someone_ gave him access. And last time I checked, only those directly involved in the project had access. Isn’t that right, _General Kim_?”

Lee Taemin.

The person Sunggyu hated the most with a deep passion.

It took all of the redhead’s strength to not lunge over Boohyun’s bed and slam the other’s face into the metal railings attached to the hospital bed.

Sunggyu flexed his jaw as he narrowed his eyes at the soldier.

Today wasn’t the day to get killed over someone as low and petty like Lee Taemin. Himchan had always told him he was too hot-tempered.

Sunggyu needed to think about happy things. Happy and wonderful things like his mother. Or the pretty flowers that she used to grow. The pretty flowers she had taught Sunggyu how to grow in front of his home.

Ah, his home.

His beautiful, old, happy home.

His beautiful, old, happy home that was destroyed by scum just like Lee Taemin.

Oh, how Sunggyu would love to wring his pretty little neck till the other couldn’t breathe no more. Till his face turned a pretty shade of purple from the lack of oxygen. He could already imagine the way Taemin’s eyes would roll backwards.

Sunggyu had to fight the smile threatening to appear on his lips. His eye twitched from the internal struggle.

Too happy.

Those thoughts were too happy.

“It was me, who had given him permission,” the fourth and final person said. He had been quiet this entire time, watching the scene unfold. He was standing next to Taemin. Everyone gave a surprised look to him.

“What do you mean, Yongguk?”

“As you mentioned, Taemin, these two had always been _buddy-buddy_ ; I thought it would be appropriate for the general to be here to hear about the new development within the project.”

Sunggyu blinked. What was Yongguk getting at? It’s not that Sunggyu didn’t trust Yongguk. He did. They were close. They were allies. They were friends… He was the one to introduce him to Himchan, pairing them up. But Yongguk wasn’t the type to protect others. If anything, he was the type to quickly throw others under the bus for his own benefit. Yongguk was the perfect soldier. The perfect type that YG and his people constantly put on a pedestal, wanting all the others to follow.

Both Sunggyu and Yongguk were of equal rank, both high-ranking generals. But while Sunggyu was known as a prodigy for his astonishing combat skills, Yongguk was a cunning military strategist. While Sunggyu preferred to be on the front lines, getting the job done, Yongguk would stand in the back, planning the next thirty moves.

He and Yongguk were friends, but one thing Sunggyu had learned early on about the ravenette was to never lower your guard around him.

Sunggyu kept his face blank as Yongguk explained his reasons. Sunggyu didn’t know why Yongguk lied for him, but he wasn’t going to deny it. People trusted Yongguk. Lee Taemin and Dr. Wu were no different. The redhead didn’t know what this meant, but all he did _know_ was that at the moment he was safe and would not be accused of treachery.

“Well,” Dr. Wu huffed. “Just this once. After tonight, General Kim, I expect to never see you down here again.”

“Yes sir,” Sunggyu nodded. He released a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding. He did his best to ignore the dark looks Yongguk threw his way as he looked to Boohyun, who had been quiet this entire time. Not once had the other looked up, but it was obvious he had been listening to every word.

“Now that I’ve all brought you here, it’s time I’ve alerted you all the next phase of Project K.O.T.” The doctor pulled his tablet out of his lab pocket and briefly skimmed through it's contents. “You all are aware of the theory of time travel, right? For the last couple of years–before even working here–I have been working on the concept of time traveling. For the longest of times, my theories, one by one, would come to a bitter end. But I had a breakthrough a few months back, when I combined several components and materials together to withstand _anything_. Even moments between different points in space, it could not be broken down. I formed these materials into a hard substance. I called it adamantine, based on the hard material that's shown up several times in ancient history.

“With this newly developed metal and the right calculations, I was able to successfully transport this metal a few minutes into the future and then a few minutes into the past. It was only temporary, though. I couldn’t come up with the solution as too why the traveling lasted a mere couple of minutes. That’s when I began to test my theories on living subjects. Perhaps only living beings could withstand the movement between space, I thought. I took the adamantine and shaped it down into a small charm to make it easier for the bearer to carry.” He raised his hand to show the accessory he was palming.

Sunggyu recognized it. It was the same necklace Himchan briefly showed a few months back. At the center of the necklace was the infinity symbol.

“Through trial and error and long vigorous experiments, there was a breakthrough. I realized that one couldn’t simply travel to wherever they wanted at any given time. The time–both here and the intended destination–needed to both have suitable conditions. For example, the likelihood of traveling would increase if, say, a natural disaster were to occur here at the exact same time the intended time period were to have one.”

“Okay, but Himchan’s has already traveled to and from twice, and last time I checked there hasn’t been a natural disaster here in South Hallow for decades…” Taemin frowned.

“And that is where the adamantine comes into play. With the adamantine, one could withstand the barriers of spacetime and general relativity and allow time travel to the past or future if these geometries or motions were possible. To keep it short and simple, the only way one were to travel without the natural way, as I mentioned earlier, is if one were to carry this material. Unfortunately, though, I don’t have a limited supply of all the components that made up the adamantine, and this is all I have left.”

“If that is all you have left, then how was this one able to come back with Himchan?” Yongguk pointed to Boohyun.

“That, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to solve yet. That is why I have been examining and experimenting on him every day. Perhaps because he made contact with Himchan and possibly the necklace, his body was able to withstand my understanding of the theory of general relativity. This one is quite the anomaly. But,” the doctor gave everyone in the room a brief look before continuing.

“To test my current theories and as to why this one survived, I’ll be sending Himchan back to the previous time from the first breakthrough, along with this one,” he pointed to Boohyun, who quickly looked up to the doctor with wide eyes.

“You’re sending him back?” Sunggyu asked, his brows furrowing. He had been quiet this entire time, taking in what Dr. Wu had been explaining. Not a lot of it made sense–science and physics were never his forte–but he understood the basics.

“That is correct, General Kim, I’m sending him back. And if he comes back along with Himchan alive and in one piece, then some more of my theories will be proven correct. But I’ll divulge on those at another time. For now, boy,” he directly addressed Boohyun. “You’ll be leaving with Himchan in a couple of days. If this doesn’t work, well, then we’ll have to start over and find someone new to test my theories on. Perhaps, Himchan can bring someone else back as well, if this one dies. Maybe a sibling?”

Sunggyu felt his heart drop to his stomach as he watched tears trickle down Boohyun’s face. The older boy didn’t even have the strength to say anything. The brunet looked down as quiet sobs wracked through his body.

“Himchan,” the doctor said. “I expect you here bright and early tomorrow to finish some last minute tests.”

“Yes, sir,” Himchan lowly mumbled, looking down.

“Well, it’s late,” without further explanation, Dr. Wu swiftly turned and left the labs with Taemin quickly following behind. Sunggyu, Yongguk, and Himchan stayed behind.

The redhead sighed as he slowly sat down. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the brunet.

“Boohyun,” Himchan called out. “I’m so sorry… This... isn't the news I wanted to tell you. I...” he trailed off.

Sunggyu sighed again, leaning back in his seat.

Why him?

_Why any of them?_


	33. Dreaming My Way Home

"Andif you press this..." Sungyeol demonstrated, pressing a small circular button on a tiny, cube-shaped device that he created. It began to glow a bright shade of blue, but Woohyun didn’t care.

The brunet wasn't exactly sure what was going on. He had stopped paying attention the moment Sungyeol started talking to him. He didn't mean to ignore him; it’s not like he didn’t like the younger. In fact, after the last mission, Sungyeol had gone out of his way to talk to and bother the brunet as much as he could– _insults included_.

And that was quite the feat since he was still stuck in the infirmary.  Woohyun didn’t mind, though. He saw Sungyeol somewhat as an annoying younger brother–Hoya scoffed and ignored him for the rest of the day when he had mentioned it once to him–though, Sungjong would always be his favorite out of all the members of INFINITE– _Sunggyu not included_.

But at the moment, he just couldn't take his mind off of what had happened the other day.

The thought alone of Sunggyu's lips on his made him flush as red as a cherry tomato. Woohyun palmed his cheeks, trying to will away the blush. His skin felt warm under his hands. He felt like he was on cloud nine.

He glanced at Sungyeol on the hospital bed and Sungjong, who was sitting across from him, talking to each other enthusiastically about Sungyeol’s new invention. Neither rebels were paying him any mind.

" _I've been wanting to do that for a while now_." _Sunggyu had whispered against his lips before pulling away. The action had thrown Woohyun for a loop; he hadn’t even gotten a chance to respond to the kiss._

Woohyun couldn’t forget the slight hesitation and uncertainty in Sunggyu’s eyes afterwards. It was probably because the younger was an idiot and was just sitting there, staring at the caramel haired man with his mouth agape and his eyes widened.

_It had taken a moment for Woohyun to wrap his brain around what had just occurred. He knew his face must had been beet red. He had mentally shook his head, trying to dispel the sudden onslaught of butterflies fluttering about in his stomach and leaned in, closing his eyes, pressing his lips fully against Sunggyu’s. He had felt the other give a small sigh of relief and a warm hand entwined with his own._

Woohyun sighed, lowering his hands. His cheeks still felt warm, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped that the other two wouldn’t suddenly realize he wasn’t listening to them. The brunet leaned back in his seat, staring up towards the ceiling. The brunet pouted, wondering what the resistance leader was doing now.

He wasn’t sure how long they had sat on the rooftops just kissing, but by the time they had finally pulled away from each other, there was a noticeable darker tint to the never-ending sunset orange sky. It wasn’t long after that that someone had called Sunggyu on his walkie-talkie, needing to discuss the plans for a new mission. The caramel haired man had kissed Woohyun one more time before leaving; Woohyun had opted to stay behind and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful view the rooftop gave him– _and to calm his fluttering heart_. He hadn’t seen Sunggyu since, but he hadn’t worried too much. He knew the other was very busy, and more than likely, had gone on a sudden mission without given the chance to tell the brunet.

Woohyun sighed, his gaze falling upon his two friends. They were still adamantly talking about Sungyeol’s device. There was no way the brunet could jump into the conversation now. Everything they were saying made absolutely no sense. But it’s not like he could contribute much anyway. Not with the way his mind kept wandering to Sunggyu.

The brunet sighed again. He placed a hand over his chest, clutching his shirt, already feeling himself get flustered and nervous over the rebel leader. When did he start developing such strong feelings for him? Hell, when was the last time he had felt this strongly for someone in general?

When he had first met Sunggyu, the older was unrelenting, inhospitable, and accusatory towards him–the man had given him a black eye when they first met. But the longer he was around him, the more he talked to him and got to know Sunggyu, he realized that that was all just a façade to hide away the scared young man afraid to lose the people he cared about the most again.

Although after actually getting to know Sunggyu and seeing that he was still somewhat a bit aloof, Woohyun had grown to really like him, admire him, _cherish_ him. And it helped that Sunggyu had saved his life more than once, making the young brunet indebted to him. Woohyun wasn’t sure for how long he had been unconsciously harboring these feelings for Sunggyu, but it wouldn’t do him any good to dwell on it _all day_.

A yellow, folded up piece of paper slid across Sungyeol’s bed, garnering Woohyun’s attention. The brunet reached for it, looking up. Sungjong was giving him a small smile, nodding towards the paper. The brunet glanced over to Sungyeol only to see him still going on and on about his new toy. The brunet briefly wondered if Sungyeol had even realized that no one was paying him any attention.

Woohyun eyed the piece of paper with curiosity, unfolding it. The moment he did, he felt his face get warm and turned a light shade of red. He glared at the younger boy across from him, who was wiggling his brows and giving him a sly smirk. The brunet looked to the paper again, feeling the sudden urge to ball up the piece of paper and stuff it down Sungjong’s throat. There were red hearts and _cute_ , _little doodles_ of him and Sunggyu holding hands and kissing everywhere on the paper. But that wasn’t all. Written and titled in bright pink, glittery ink was…

 

> Sungjong’s Tips on How to Properly Confess Your Undying Love to Kim Sunggyu 101
> 
>   1. Make sure you approach him on a good day. Kim Sunggyu is a very moody guy. And on some days, just receiving a look from him could shorten your lifespan by thirty.
>   2. Although it may feel like he’s damning you to the pits of hell for all eternity, don’t shy away when he glares at you.
>   3. Kim Sunggyu is a very private man, so if you plan to confess, make sure you’re alone so that no one eaves drops. He likes to keep his personal life separate from his role as the leader of INFINITE
>   4. Have confidence! Kim Sunggyu doesn’t have time for wimps and cowards. If you hesitate with your confession and stall, there’s a good chance you might die from wasting his time.
>   5. Want to confess, but not sure if Kim Sunggyu feels anything towards you? Want to make sure first? Well, unless he’s scowling at you 24/7, there’s no good way to know if he likes you. He might not know you even exist. However, if he _is_ scowling at you 24/7, then he doesn’t like you. It means he considers you a fucking waste of space and air. DO. NOT. CONFESS. IF. THIS. OCCURS.
>   6. When it’s time for your confession, bringing some food might help! Kim Sunggyu is a food whore! But then again, since he’s very picky in the food department, if you bring something not worthy of his taste buds, he might take the plate of food and smash it against your head. Be careful!
>   7. Don’t be a clumsy idiot, getting into dangerous situation every five minutes. See Tip #4 for similar explanation as to why this is bad.
>   8. Be respectful. Kim Sunggyu doesn’t like it when people disrespect him, insult him, or attack– _poke_ –him. He becomes extremely violent when this occurs.
>   9. Just to be safe, when confessing, where a bulletproof vest, be armed, and prepare for combat. If you say the wrong thing to him, the confession might lead to spilled blood. _Your spilled blood._
>   10. If none of these tips help but you still want to properly confess your undying love to Kim Sunggyu, then there’s only one thing left you can do: be Nam Woohyun!
> 

> 
> P.S. Kim Sunggyu doesn’t like many people. And the ones that he do care for are very limited, but if you’re Nam Woohyun, then you’ve already captured his heart, and all you have to do is be by his side. Kim Sunggyu always smiles and shines the brightest when Nam Woohyun is around!

 

The more he read, the more his cheeks burned. Woohyun balled up the piece of paper, stuffing it into his pocket. Sungjong’s giggling didn’t help make the brunet feel any better. The need to bury himself in a deep, deep hole from embarrassment became very necessary.

“What are you laughing about?” Sungyeol questioned, lowering his device. The question only served Sungjong to laugh harder. The red-framed young man eyed the young boy with curiosity before turning to the deep red tomato named Woohyun. His brows furrowed, confused about the sudden change in the conversation.

“I-I-It’s nothing!” Woohyun stammered, palming his cheeks. Sungyeol narrowed his eyes at the brunet.

“Hey, I was just about to get to the cool stuff and you two interrupted, so spill it, _shorty_!”

“Well,” Sungjong started, still laughing. “I noticed that Woohyun was in a bit of a dilemma, so I thought I help him out!”

“Help him out with what?”

“Help him with confessing–”

“Shut up!” Woohyun threw the piece of paper Sungjong originally gave him back at him. It struck the younger square in the head and landed on the bed. Before the brunet could reach for it and do Sungjong more harm, Sungyeol grabbed it. “Wait, wait, wait, no! Don’t look; give it back.” He leaned forward to grab it, but Sungyeol moved it out of reach.

 He unfolded the paper and read out loud. “Tips on how to confess to Sunggyu…?”

Woohyun froze, arms still raised in an attempt to get the paper back, his cheeks turning darker from the mere mentioning of its contents.  Sungyeol blinked, quiet for a moment. He lowered the paper to his lap and glanced at Sungjong, who had become quiet as well. He then turned to Woohyun, who had finally leaned back in his seat. He gave the brunet an unreadable expression. Woohyun swallowed thickly, not liking the sudden awkward atmosphere in the infirmary. Sungyeol looked back towards to Sungjong.

.

.

.

Both boys burst into a sudden ebullient laughter.

“This is _gold_ , Sungjong!” Sungyeol cackled, holding his sides. “And the _drawings_!”

“Can you guys _not_?” Woohyun groaned, mentally digging an extra couple of feet for his hole of embarrassment.

“Hey, no need to be like that, Woohyun,” Sungjong grinned. “I’m completely serious about that.” He pointed to the paper. “I know Sunggyu. I know how he is around people. And I’m not blind to the way he is around you.”

“Yeah, I may need glasses, but even I’m not _that_ blind. The way he looks at you when he thinks no one is paying attention…” He smirked at the brunet, giving the paper back to him.

Woohyun groaned again, not saying anything. If they knew that he and Sunggyu had already shared a kiss, then the teasing would be ten times worse.

All this talk about confessing to Sunggyu had Woohyun thinking, though. Sure, Sunggyu had kissed him. He had kissed him long and hard and passionately on the rooftop, but what had it all meant? Unlike what the other two were saying, he had never really noticed Sunggyu looking at him the way they were insinuating. Most times, it’d just seemed that he was glaring. He never knew Sunggyu might had even felt any kind of affection towards him.

As of recently, the most he got from him were smiles. Which, granted, happened a lot more often now, and continuously stole his breath away, but that didn’t mean he _liked_ Woohyun. They were just friends. Friends who had made promises to each other to never let the other fall.

And friends who had made out like a couple of hormonal teenagers on the roof.

He and Sunggyu needed to talk and get their feelings sorted out. Immediately, before the brunet went crazy from all of this over-thinking.

“Well, I’m done with you two now,” Sungyeol declared. “You can leave.” He adjusted himself in his bed, getting comfortable.

Woohyun scoffed. _Rude_.

The brunet stood up, stuffing Sungjong’s tips list in his pocket. He stretched a bit, wondering what to do now. He was a bit hungry. Maybe he could make himself a sandwich? But then again, he was banned from the kitchen after that fiasco with the spaghetti. Maybe he could hang out with Dongwoo, if he wasn’t too busy?

“Woohyun,” Sungyeol called as the brunet was about to exit the infirmary. He glanced over his shoulder. “I forgot to mention that I heard from one of the nurses that our dear and lovely, head-over-heels-for-the-time-traveler leader of INFINITE came back from his mission earlier. He might be in his room, waiting for a special _someone_ ,” he grinned slyly.

“Ugh, stop it, please,” Woohyun whined.

Sungjong laughed, pushing the brunet out of the infirmary. “Hey, I know we were all joking and teasing you, Woohyun, but I was completely serious about how Sunggyu acts around you. And I can tell you feel the same. Say something to him, before it’s too late, okay?” Sungjong gave a small, encouraging smile before leaving him alone in the hallway in front of the infirmary.

Say something before it’s too late…

Too late before what?

Before he and the others discover a way for Woohyun to finally return to his own time? Before he or–God forbid–Sunggyu gets fatally injured on one of the missions? Because let’s face it, Woohyun doesn’t really like to think about it, but they all currently live in a dangerous time. They’re all doing something dangerous–rebelling against the government. At any given moment, they could all die or _worse_. They are, after all, criminals in the eyes of YG and all those they oppose.

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long he had, via being killed in action or physically being in this time. As much as he cares for Sunggyu and the others here in INFINITE, he does truly miss his home, his _time_. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about home. He constantly dreams of home.

But, INFINITE is home too.

He needed to make a choice. A thought nagging in the back of his mind kept telling him that he didn’t have long for this time, this world, and he needed to make a choice.

He stuffed his hands in his pocket, sighing. What was he to do? His hand came into contact with Sungjong’s paper. He pulled it out, unraveling it. He read over it once more, feeling his heart skip a beat. He was in deep, wasn’t he?

He wasn’t sure how long he had, but there wasn’t much he could do at the moment. The brunet clutched the paper tightly.

_Sunggyu_.

Wrong choice or not, he needed to at least see– _talk_ –to him. Maybe even discuss with him about some of these doubts.

Woohyun quickly walked to the other side of the building to where Sunggyu’s quarters were situated. He had never been on this side of the building, but Sungjong had given him directions one time and was told that not many lived on this side. Many of the rooms located in this area were dedicated to interrogation rooms and the armory.

The closer and closer Woohyun reached the hallway leading to Sunggyu’s room, the more nerve-wracking this ordeal had become. His hands were shaky; his heart pounded rapidly; he swallowed the lump in his throat.

He stopped suddenly, his eyes falling upon the door at the end of the hallway. There was Sunggyu’s room. From where he stood, he could tell the door was slightly ajar, and light was shining from the opening.

A small part of him was kind of hoping he wasn’t in his room to give him more time to think about what he wanted to say. He glanced down at the paper in his hands. Even though most of the tips were jokes and were poking fun to the many times Sunggyu had lost his temper, it didn’t make him feel better.

Woohyun mentally groaned. This was worse than the few times he had asked his crushes out back in high school. It was so much easier back then.

All the girls flustered.

All the guys stuttered.

Woohyun wasn’t the most popular kid back in school, but he was well liked and had many admirers. He always had the confidence to tell his crushes his feelings, but Sunggyu was different. Just the thought alone of him possibly rejecting him despite being the one to make the moves on the brunet first didn’t quench his doubts. He had never felt this insecure before.

“…Gyu, I’ve miss you,” a voice said, capturing Woohyun’s attention. It came from Sunggyu’s room. It was a female’s voice, a very familiar female voice. The brunet quietly walked up to the door, peering into the crack discreetly. His eyes widened when he saw Sunggyu sitting on the edge of his bed and Suzy standing in front of him. He felt like he was intruding on a very important conversation. He knew he shouldn’t stay here and eavesdrop, but he couldn’t get his body to move.

“I haven’t seen you much since I’ve return,” Suzy complained, crossing her arms, pouting. “I hope you’re not avoiding me”

“I’m not. I promise. It’s just that I’ve been really busy lately. A recent mission of ours had been really successful–the one where we infiltrated the BEQP–and the information we gathered from there had really helped us.” Sunggyu stood up, patting Suzy on the shoulders comfortingly.

“I understand, but it’s never good to constantly overwork yourself. You need to take a break. You may be our leader, but there are others to take over for in case you become tired, like Dongwoo, your second-in-command.”

“Okay, well, I’ll be free tomorrow. How about we head over to section five and just hang out like the good ol’ times? It’s been a while, and we should catch up. Sector five has always been a pretty safe place for us to venture to without too much to worry about.” He gave a tight-lipped smile. Woohyun could tell Sunggyu was a tad bit annoyed trying to appease the girl.

“Why not today? It’s still pretty early in the day?” Suzy whined, stomping her foot down childishly.

Sunggyu sighed, “I can’t. I still need to wrap up a few things. And there’s someone I really need to see…”

“But Gyu…” She suddenly hugged the rebel leader. Woohyun had to stop himself from gasping out loud. Besides Sungjong–and himself–he had never seen anyone else in Sunggyu’s personal space and not get hurt immediately. Sunggyu hugged back. “Remember when we were kids…? And when some of the others used to pick on me… my knight and shining armor...” She started speaking lowly, and the brunet could barely hear anything anymore.

Sunggyu chuckled at something the other said. Woohyun blinked, pulling away from the door slightly. Their close proximity to each other jarred on his heart. It was getting hard to breathe.

He shouldn’t be here.

He was intruding on something important. Something related to his mother, and he still wasn’t ready to address _that_ situation.

“Gyu…” Suzy spoke up, pulling away from Sunggyu but was still in arm’s reach. She then leaned back in, placing her hands on his shoulders. Woohyun’s eyes widened in complete surprise.

The crumpled yellow piece of paper with drawings of Sunggyu and Woohyun and tips that made the young man’s heart throbbed in ways it had never done before slipped from his grasp and drifted to the ground.

Suzy pressed her lips against Sunggyu’s.

Woohyun took another step back, covering his mouth.

Oh.

_“I’ve never loved another man like I did him…”_

Sunggyu didn’t push her away.

_“My leader; my savior…”_

A tear rolled down his cheek.

He had made the wrong choice.

He was so stupid.


	34. Secret Conversation

He was so stupid.

How could he have forgotten?

Everything, _everything_ Suji had ever told him came to the forefront of his mind.

Sunggyu was the man she was in love with.

How could he have forgotten something as substantial as that?

Even though he had not heard her utter his name the _last time_ he had saw her, _Sunggyu_ was all she was thinking about on her deathbed.

His eyesight became blurry as he stumbled down the hall. He couldn’t stand there and watch that anymore. It took all of his strength to not sob out loud. He stopped as he reached the end of the hall. He placed his hand against the wall, leaning against it for support.

Woohyun glanced over his shoulder back down the hall, wishing for everything he had just witness to be wiped from his mind. He closed his eyes, turning away.

He was so stupid.

What was he supposed to do now?

Sunggyu was the man his mother was deeply in love with. 

_“…he was in love with someone else…”_

That was one of the last things Suji said to him before she had succumbed to her illnesses. Did Sunggyu not actually have feelings for her? But then why hadn’t he pushed her away? Why had it looked like he indulged in the action?

Unless coming to this world and meeting Sunggyu and the others had somehow _altered_ this timeline…

If that was true, then there was no way he could get in-between his mother and Sunggyu. Suji deserved all the happiness in the world and to be with the one she desired, even if that meant breaking his own heart.

Woohyun sighed, rubbing his eyes. Just the thought of them together pained him. He momentaily watched the rebels, who made up INFINITE, walk to and fro, going about their business. No one paid him any mind. Did any of them even know what was going on behind closed doors? Did they already know about their relationship?

He had heard from multiple people that Sunggyu and Suzy were childhood friends. Being that close to one another for such a long time… If only he had known how at a disadvantage he was for the leader’s attention. He never had a chance against Suzy anyway.

Had they been together _before_ in the past? Had they kissed before? If he was so comfortable with letting Suzy kiss him, then why had Sunggyu kissed _him_ on the rooftop? Why make Woohyun go through all the stages of fully realizing he was probably in love with the older man only to step on his heart a second later unknowingly?

How could he have been so stupid?

The brunet placed a hand over his heart, clutching his shirt. He needed to get out. He pulled away from the wall. He needed some air. Everything hurt. He couldn’t stay here, at least not for the meantime. Some fresh air would do him some good.

Woohyun refused to look back down the hall as he made his way through the crowded main room of the headquarters towards the elevator. He needed to clear his head and think about what he was going to do next. He couldn’t possibly tell Sunggyu how he felt now, not after witnessing that intimate moment.

When he reached the elevator, he pressed the button, signaling the lift to come to the main floor. Maybe spending a couple of hour outside would help. If he stayed here any longer, he would go crazy. When the elevator doors opened, he entered. He looked to the floor buttons, only to realize there were no actual level buttons but just a keypad. He had forgotten that there was a password needed to get in and out of the building. He had once memorized it when he had went on his first mission, but it’s been so long and so much had happened since that he no longer could remember the code. And the only other code he knew was the one leading to the roof.

And just the thought of going back up there made his heart ache. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t go back up there. But what was he supposed to do now? He needed to get out. What if Sunggyu emerged from his room with Suzy in tow? What would he say to the caramel haired man?

He closed his eyes, groaning in anguish.

“Woohyun? Where are you going?” Someone asked.

The brunet opened his eyes to see Sungjong staring at him from outside the elevator.

“I, uh, need to go out…” Woohyun couldn’t think of a good excuse.

“Why? You know it’s dangerous out there, especially for someone like you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Woohyun mumbled but loud enough for the younger boy to hear. “But I really need to get out.”

“Okay… but _why?_ ” He crossed his arms, giving Woohyun a concerned look. The latter didn’t answer, though. “Weren’t you going to see Sunggyu?”

Woohyun looked down, shuffling his feet. He lightly bit his tongue to stop himself from sniffling at just the mere mention of the man’s name. Man, he had fallen hard to Sunggyu.

He was so stupid.

“Woohyun?”

“Please, Sungjong…” He looked up, giving him a pleading look. “I won’t be gone long. I just…” He sighed heavily. “I just can’t be here right now.”

Sungjong was quiet for a moment. “Do you know the code?” Woohyun shook his head. “The password is Infinite. The numbers on the keypad correspond with the letters that spell the name.” Sungjong explained.

Woohyun nodded, glancing at the set of numbers on the wall.

Infinite.

The brunet had to mentally give the rebel leader credits for thinking up of a code like that. It would definitely be hard for someone to break into the headquarters. Not only was the password a long series of digits, one had to be somewhat knowledgeable in another language. For example, the “ _I”_ of Infinite was the ninth letter in the English alphabet. The brunet wasn’t that good in English, but he knew enough, and he knew how to spell in the language.

_9.14.6.9.14.9.20.5._

_Infinite._

“What happened with Sunggyu, Woohyun?” Sungjong asked as he watched the brunet silently type in the code. “Did he…?”

“Nothing happened,” Woohyun muttered a moment later. “He was with Suzy. I… didn’t want to interrupt their _intimate_ moment…” He wondered if he had mirrored Sungjong’s surprised expression when he had witness the scene.

Before the younger could say anything, the elevator doors had shut, effectively ending the conversation.

* * *

 

Woohyun pulled the hood of the jacket he was wearing–curtesy of Dongwoo, once again–up to partially cover his identity and then stuffed his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t sure where he was going to go for the meantime, but he was in his right mind to know that he could possibly walk into a dangerous situation and he had no real means of defending himself.

The brunet briefly eyed his surroundings as he walked about. He wasn’t sure where he was going, and at the current moment, he didn’t care. He just needed some air and to get away from Sunggyu and his presence for the time being. He let his feet take him in a random direction as his mind wandered off.

What was he supposed to do now? Continue being a member of INFINITE while being in an awkward friendship–if that’s what he could even call what he and Sunggyu have, at this moment–with the caramel haired man, knowing he kissed his mom?

Woohyun shuddered at that thought. He once again wondered if they had shared a kissed before. If they had, then he had an indirect kiss with his own mom!

“ _Oh god_!” The brunet moaned in despair. He did not leave the safe confines of the INFINITE headquarters to be having thoughts like these. It was making everything worse! He was officially scarred for life.

But maybe they hadn’t kissed before. Based on the look Sungjong gave him when he had mumbled what had happened, the thought of Suzy and Sunggyu potentially being a _thing_ hadn’t even occurred to him. Maybe that was their first kiss?

How long has it been since he had left the headquarters? Were they still kissing?

“You’re so stupid, Woohyun,” he mumbled to himself. “Stop thinking about them…”

* * *

 

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long he had been walking, for he did not recognize the area he was in at all. And it didn’t help that the tint of the sky didn’t give him any clue to what time it was. He was pretty sure he had left HQ mid-morning, though.

He stopped in his tracks, eyeing his surroundings. Everything was so bright and colorful and lively. There were many people walking the streets, talking to one another as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The fashion wasn’t as terrible as that of the members of INFINITE or even that of the citizens of sector eight. Some people’s fashions looked a tad bit outdated compared to his time, but everyone looked… normal. Happy. Carefree.

Where was he? What sector was he in? He couldn’t had gone too far from sector two, but then again, there were many paths and secret passageways that made getting to the upper sectors quicker and easier. He must had unconsciously taken one of said routes. As he continued to look around, he began to feel a dull, pulsating throb in his head. He lightly massaged his temples, trying to somewhat alleviate the pain. The pain wasn’t too bad; it was something he could ignore. Perhaps, he had been walking for a long time. He was a bit tired.

“C’mon, c’mon!” Someone yelled. “Hurry before it’s over!”

“We have, like, all day! It’s only two o’clock!”

Woohyun glanced over his shoulders and saw a group of kids, running past him. They all had big smiles on their faces. It’s been a while since he had seen any children. The first and last time was when he went on his first mission and he met Krystal. She had been taking care of some children, many of whom had been siblings or the sons and daughters of the rebels of INFINITE. He briefly wondered how the woman was doing and hoped that she was alive and well. If he ever had a chance, he would like to see her again.

The kids talking and laughter caught Woohyun’s attention again as they ran around the corner where the brunet noticed many others were making their way way as well.

With curiosity bubbling up in him, he followed the throngs of people around the corner. His eyes widened when he realized what he stumbled upon.

A gigantic banner was hung in the air attached to two lamp posts on each side of the street. It read,

> Sector Five’s 10th Annual Street Vending Event

“How did I get all the way to sector five?” Woohyun mumbled out loud, his brows furrowing in confusion.

Tables and tents were lined against the sidewalk next to each other. Groups of people occupied each booth, peering at the material the tents were presenting. Some tables were selling clothing and accessories while others were food booths. Woohyun could see even more children running to and fro from each booth, pointing at everything. Some were with, the brunet assumed, their parents, begging them to buy them something.

This was the last thing Woohyun expected to come across in a time such as this. With this being such a war-torn country and the government kidnapping and terrorizing its own people, how any community had time to get together like this was amazing to Woohyun. Maybe because of all the problems South Hallow had, this was just a way for them to temporarily forget their problems and _live_ _without fear_ for a change.

Woohyun walked amongst the citizens of sector five, inspecting every other table. It was extremely crowded; and he bumped into someone every couple of minutes. The owners of each booth would yell and call to him and many others, trying to get their attention and buy their merchandise. This reminded him of home. Every couple of months or so, there would be a little event or festival in his town that everyone would go to. Boohyun often took him to such events and would spoil him with food and toys with what little money he had saved up for such occasions.

While continuously walking down the street looking at the booths, the headache he had developed earlier began to worsen. As he continued to walk, the pain intensified. He moved off the streets and onto the nearby sidewalk, getting out of people’s way. He leaned against the wall, feeling a sudden spell of dizziness. Where did this sudden headache come from? He rubbed his temples, trying to alleviate the pain.

The brunet groaned as his head continued to throb terribly. He had never felt this much pain before. He pushed himself off the wall and looked around for a bench to sit at. He couldn’t continue like this. Maybe if he sat down and rest, he would feel better.

With each step, his head pulsed. The further he walked, the pain increased. He could barely see straight, the ache taking over his body. With the last bit of strength, he walked unsteadily to a nearby bench, slouching down the moment he sat.

Woohyun whimpered in agony as he attempted to ease the pain. Everything hurt. This pain in his head reminded him on the night before coming to this time, when he was trying to make his wish and someone knocked into, sending them both to the ground. Before he could had said anything, the mysterious person had quickly ran away, only leaving behind the peculiar infinity necklace _. The only object Woohyun considered to be the link to his time traveling._ When he had picked it the accessory and inspected it, a sudden headache had come, and he had felt a bit lightheaded, though not as bad as he felt at this moment.

He also felt similar discomfort and pain right after Dr. Wu finished injecting the mysterious illness–later realized as the flu–into Woohyun. While the doctor was waiting and the brunet was strapped to the chair, he had felt a sudden dull and pulsating throb in his head. Though, at the time, he had chalked it up to being because he was being tortured.

Why was this happening? What did this mean? Where was this sudden pain coming from?

Woohyun felt extremely weak. He squeezed his eyes shut. Every little movement he made sent pain riveting through his body. The voices from the children and adults around him began to sound faint and muffled. The pounding in his head was becoming too much. He felt his body slump over on the bench, but he didn’t have the strength to move anymore. The pain in his head was too much, overriding everything else. He could barely keep a grasp on his consciousness.

He felt everything grow still and eerily quiet.

“Sunggyu…” he mumbled before completely losing consciousness.

* * *

 

Woohyun felt something touch his face. It was rough and pointy. His mind was too tired to register what exactly was going on.

“…Is he alive?” A voice said. It sounded like a young boy, perhaps a ten year old? He felt more jabs to his cheek.

“I don’t know, but stop hitting him! If the police saw you attacking him with that stick, we could get into some serious trouble!” Someone else scolded. It was a young girl.

“I’m just _poking_ him!”

“You’re being rude and violent! I’m going to tell mom!”

“Okay, okay! It’s not like he’ll die; he already looks it…” The poking stopped. Woohyun mentally sighed in relief. Whatever the kid was using really hurt.

“He could get internal bleeding from all the punching you kept doing!”

“All I did was _poke_ him with a wooden stick.”

The banter between the two kids was beginning to annoy the young brunet. He gave a low groan before forcing his eyes open. His body still ached, but not as much as before. He saw a little boy and girl standing in front of him. They looked related to each other, for they had similar facial features. The girl, whom looked a bit older, was standing behind the other while the latter had a pointy, dirty stick in his hand. The brunet rubbed his cheek, hoping there weren’t any dirt on it.

“Oh my gosh, he’s alive!” The girl shrieked.

Woohyun slowly sat up from the bench, his vision spinning a bit in the process. He clutched his head and squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering in discomfort.

“Are you okay, sir?” The boy asked.

“Not really,” Woohyun mumbled.  He opened his eyes, looking around. The sky was a bit darker now, and the streets weren’t as crowded as he remembered. Some of the booths and vendors were gone too. How long was he out?

“We thought you were dead, sir…” The girl piped.

“I feel like it,” Woohyun rubbed his face. His headache was still there, but it was back to being a dull throb, one he could somewhat ignore. “What time is it?”

“Seven o’clock.” Before they could say anymore, a young woman from further down the street called to the siblings, telling them it was time to go. The kids hesitantly glanced at their mother before bowing to Woohyun and scurrying off. The brunet paid them no heed, though.

“S-Seven?” He gasped. He had been unconscious for at least four hours. He patted himself down to make sure he still had everything, but then realized he had nothing on him in the first place. He sighed looking up towards the sky. The never-ending sunset orange sky had turned several shades darker, almost as if it were about to rain. He needed to get home as soon as possible.

He slowly stood up, still feeling a bit unstable. Why had his head hurt that much? He was never one prone to constant headaches and migraines. And when he did get one, it was very mild. And yet, here he was, minding his own business, and a sudden onslaught of pain took over, rendering him unconscious. Something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what, though.

As he stepped away from the bench and turned towards the direction he had originally come from earlier, his headache began to intensify again. He clutched his head once more, swearing violently under his breath.

Ignoring the pain as best as he could, Woohyun walked down the street. He massaged the bridge of his nose, sighing loudly. Was he dying? Is this what it felt like to be dying? If so, then he wanted none of it. When it’s his time, he wanted it to be quick and painless. Not paying attention to where he was walking, he bumped into a table.

“Hey, watch it!” Someone snapped.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Woohyun apologized, bowing deeply. He heard the other sniffed and mumbled something about youngsters having no respect these days. The brunet straightened up, looking at the damage he caused, which wasn’t much actually. He had bumped into a vendor’s table and knock over a small display with accessories in it. Everything else appeared to be fine.

An old man lightly pushed Woohyun out of the way in order to right the display. He was still mumbling under his breath. The brunet walked up to the table, peering at the merchandise. He saw a couple of watches and earrings that looked pretty cool and wished he had some money to buy it.

Woohyun froze for a moment, realizing that the pain in his head had once again subsided. In fact, he felt fine, as if he was never suffering in the first place. What the hell was going on with his body?

“What do you want, kid?” The old man grumbled, glaring at Woohyun. The former had a long, scruffy white beard. He had no hair on his head, and his face was full of wrinkles.

“I’m just looking,” he defended.

“Well, go look somewhere else!”

“Is it a crime to window shop?” He whispered, frowning.

The old man heard him, “It is, when it comes to my stuff!”

“What if I wanted to buy something? Yelling at a potential customer is bad for your business.” Woohyun complained. He was not in the mood to get yelled at by some old man.

“Well, you aren’t buying anything anyway, huh.”

“You don’t know that–”

“You aren’t. Just look at you. I can tell you’re from the lower sectors. Your kind don’t have the money to afford my stuff. Hell, you shouldn’t even be able to afford to _look_ at my stuff.”

Woohyun looked down at the clothes he was wearing. It was just some regular clothes he had borrowed from Dongwoo again, a simple shirt and jeans with a hoodie on top. What part of him screamed poor?

“Not your clothes, boy!” The old man informed, sitting down in a chair behind the table.

“Then what–”

“The look in your eyes,” he gestured to his own eyes. “You’ve _seen_ some things. You’ve _done_ some things. Things that kids your age from this sector and ones above could never dream of doing. You’ve been through some serious shit, kid. I can tell.”

Woohyun was speechless. This old man was perspective. Just from a look and he knew Woohyun wasn’t from around here.

“I grew up in sector one, the lowest of the lows. But I dug my way out of the slums and created a family and made a living here. But I can always spot another one from the slums. Only people from the poverty stricken sectors understand what true horror and pain looks like.”

“ _But I’m not even from this time_ …” Woohyun complained to himself.

“Why are you here, boy?” The old man asked, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up.

“I just wanted to go for a walk.” He looked down back at the accessories.  He did not want to think about the original reason why he was out here in the first place. What was _he_ doing now?

“All the way to sector five?”

“It’s none of your…” Woohyun trailed off, his attention falling upon a very familiar necklace. His brows furrowed as he reached out to touch the necklace. He heard the old man complain about him touching his stuff, but the brunet ignored the protests. He picked up the necklace, inspecting it closer.

It was the infinity necklace.

He held the chain in one hand while the pendant itself laid in his other hand. The familiar dull throb in his head returned, but Woohyun almost welcomed it. He felt the same invisible force drawing him to the accessory like it did the very first time he had touched it. He hadn’t seen this necklace since he had first woke up in this time. Wait; was this the same pendant that he had worn when he had traveled? How did it get all the way over here in sector five and into the hands of this old man?

“You fancy that necklace, eh boy?” The old man breathed out a puff of smoke.

“I… I had a necklace just like this,” Woohyun frowned. He was so confused. This infinity necklace had to be the same one he found. It felt warm and assuring in his palm. Something in him told him that this was the same necklace.

“Well, if you want it, you’re gonna have to buy it.” Another puff of smoke emitted from his mouth.

“I don’t have any money,” Woohyun sighed. He needed this necklace. He was sure. He was sure this was the same pendant. If he could keep this, maybe it would help him return back to his own time. He was sure that this pendant was the key to everything. “Sir, I need this necklace. Is there anything I could do to have this besides actually buying it? If I had money I would, but I doubt that would ever happen.” He urged.

The old man gave him a hard look. “Why do you want that so bad?”

“It’s complicated. I doubt I could ever truly explain how important this is, but please sir, I need this necklace!”

After a moment of silence between the two, the old man relented, “ _Fine_ ,” he waved his hand at the brunet. “Take it. It was never truly mine in the first place anyway. I found it in sector four a few weeks back.”

“Really?” Woohyun smiled. “You mean it? I can really have it? Thank you so much!” He quickly fastened the pendant around his neck, making sure he wouldn’t lose it this time around. The dull throb in his head finally faded away. Was the necklace the one causing him all that pain earlier?

“Now scram, kid,” the old man huffed. “It looks like it’s about to rain. I’m sure your family must be worried about you.”

“My family?” Woohyun frowned.

_Sunggyu_...

The brunet looked up. The sky was much darker than earlier. He needed to get home now. Or at least attempt to get home. He wasn’t too sure how he ended up in sector five in the first place, though.

“Go back down that way,” the old man pointed down the street to Woohyun’s left. “Turn the corner and across the street, next to the café is a small alleyway. Take that path and stay on it. It should eventually take you down to sector four. From there, you should be able to make it to your home.” It was almost as if the old man knew Woohyun was lost. Once he reached sector four, though, he wouldn’t be too sure where to go from there. Hopefully, he’ll see some familiar shops and landmarks that'll jog his memories, and he’ll remember the path that he and Sunggyu had taken from the last mission.

“Thank you,” the brunet gave a grateful smile and bowed once again. He then gave a small wave to the old man before running off, following the directions he received.

* * *

 

Woohyun eyed his surroundings once he had emerged from the alleyway. Surprisingly, the path didn’t take too long. The street appeared to be completely empty. The brunet gave a sigh of relief, instantly recognizing the road he was on. It was the same street where Sunggyu had bought him ice cream. He slowly walked up to the same bench he had sat down at, waiting on the rebel leader.

_Sunggyu_ …

The brunet placed a hand over his chest where the infinity pendant rested. He should talk to Sunggyu. Despite witnessing what happened between the caramel haired man and his mother, he couldn’t flat out avoid the man once he returned. He was sure he was going to receive an earful from many of the members for being out here for this long. And he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to repeat what he did today and go on a _walk_ whenever he felt like it.

Talking to Sunggyu and getting his feelings across needed to happen, even if the other felt nothing for him and was just playing him. And then, he could completely focus on the pendant, that was around his neck, and figure out a way home.

“Listen! I’m just the _messenger_! If you have a problem, take it up with _the boss_!” A man shouted, pulling Woohyun from his thoughts. “Now if you don’t mind–” Some shuffling could be heard and the sounds of someone crashing into a trash bin followed afterwards.

The young man noticed that the apparent skirmish was coming from a small back alley down the street from him. Normally, Woohyun would mind his own business, knowing full well if he were to get involved, he would only worsen the situation. As he turned to leave, remembering the path Sunggyu had showed him previously, another voice shot back, freezing Woohyun in his tracks.

“ _Shut the fuck up_ ,” the voice snarled. “You know as well as I do that this isn’t the best place for us to be having this conversation.”

_Was that_ …?

He knew that voice. He slowly approached the alley.

“Yeah, okay, but what do you want me to do?” The other whimpered.

“How does Yongguk expect me to fulfill a mission like that without killing _him_?”

Woohyun quietly pressed up against the wall, peering around the corner. There were two men at the end of the alley. One was shorter than the other and had his back to the wall, slightly cowering from the other. He was wearing a long white coat, had short, light brown hair, and simple black frames were perched on his face, slowly sliding down his nose.

The other man…

Woohyun blinked not believing his eyes.

“How am I supposed to know, _Myungsoo_? I am just a scientist. Honestly, I shouldn’t had even been the one to deliver the message. It should had been Daehyun or Youngjae at least!”

The other man slammed his fist into the brick wall next to the scientist’s head. “You’re not supposed to call me by that _name_ while I’m on duty!” The scientist flinched.

“S-Sorry, _L_. But like I said, it’s time you reveal your identity to INFINITE and destroy them from the inside. Kill whoever you want, but, Yongguk, sir, said to keep Kim Sunggyu alive. Only he had the right to kill him. And also, make sure to keep the time traveler alive and unharmed. He needs to be in perfect condition for the doctor.”

Woohyun had to bite his tongue to stop him from gasping out loud. Here was L-a member of INFINITE, a close, trusted comrade of Sunggyu’s, and someone Sungjong considered family-conspiring with some _scientist_ who worked for Yongguk. The brunet didn’t really know much about Yongguk, but from what he gathered and from what Sunggyu had mentioned one time, he knew the man was bad news. He worked for YG and was the one sending all of those mercenaries and killers after him and the others.

L, or should he say _Myungsoo_ , was the mole in INFINITE. It all made sense. With every step they took, YG always seemed to be ahead of INFINITE, attempting to thwart their plans, though they’ve failed every time. Myungsoo had been the one feeding their enemies crucial information this entire time.

“Will I be doing this alone? Should I inform _him_ of the plan as well?” Myungsoo asked, stepping away from the scientist.

“Yes, the boss wants both of you in on this. We will be sending you some of our best soldiers as well as a few guys that worked with _Tao_ as mercenaries.”

Woohyun’s blood ran cold. They were planning on ambushing the headquarters. He needed to go back now! He needed to warn Sunggyu and the others about Myungsoo’s betrayal. Was this the attack his mother had mentioned before she had died? He needed to hurry before it was too late.

As Myungsoo and the scientist continued to discuss their plans, Woohyun took a step back, failing to see the glass that surrounded his feet. The brunet froze as glass shattered into pieces below his foot. He looked down, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He mentally cursed his luck. The two enemies stopped talking suddenly. Everything grew quiet.

Not waiting to see what would happen next, Woohyun spun around, making a beeline to the alley where he and Sunggyu had taken last time. He heard footsteps closing in behind him. The sound of the trigger from a gun reverberated around him. He stopped in his tracks as a bullet whizzed past him. Before he could think of what to do next, a hand clasped around his arm, pulling him back. He was forced to turn around and came face to face with the muzzle of a pistol.

The one holding it was Myungsoo.

Woohyun took in a shaky breath, swallowing thickly. He noticed that Myungsoo’s eyes had widened, realizing whom he had almost killed.

“L, what’s going on?!” The scientist rushed into the alley. He had a gun in hand, aiming it Woohyun.

“Put the gun down, Minseok,” Myungsoo ordered.

“B-But this man overheard everything! He could potentially–”

“We can’t kill him.” Despite his words, Myungsoo kept the muzzle of his gun pressed against the brunet’s forehead.

“Why not?”

“He’s the time traveler,” he revealed.

“He’s–what? You can’t be serious! How–”

“This is Nam Woohyun, the boy who traveled over five thousand years from the past.” He pulled his gun away, but then, quickly, slammed Woohyun against the wall. Said boy cried in pain from the sudden attack. “ _What are you doing here_?” He snarled.

“I should be asking you that.” Woohyun groaned. “You’re… you’re…” He couldn’t get the words out.

“This is perfect, L!” Minseok interrupted. “We have the time traveler in our hands. This’ll make everything easier–”

“No, it won’t. Once Sunggyu finds out his precious, little time traveler is missing, he’ll destroy everything in his path till he finds him. We need him to let his guard down before we can start the attack.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“You’re going to go back to Yongguk and inform him of what happened, and I’m going to go back to INFINITE.”

“And me?” Woohyun asked, glaring at Myungsoo. “I heard what you told him,” he nodded towards Minseok. “You can’t kill me. You need me in good condition for Dr. Wu.”

“You’ve been around Sunggyu too much. You’re starting to scowl just like him. But don’t worry so much about what’ll happen to you; you’re right I won’t kill you. But I can still hurt you.” He gave Woohyun an unsettling smile.

Next thing Woohyun knew, Myungsoo grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head back against the brick wall behind him. He then released him and sent a quick jab to Woohyun’s stomach.

The brunet doubled over, wheezing. He coughed, spitting out blood. He felt Myungsoo grabbed him by his collar and lift him up to face the traitor.

“By the time you come to, it’ll be too late to warn your dear Sunggyu of the inevitable destruction of INFINITE.” Myungsoo raised his fist, punching the brunet in the face. He released Woohyun as the latter stumbled back, hitting the wall. The young man cried out in pain as tumbled to the ground, landing on his back.

Woohyun coughed, blood trickling from his mouth. He couldn’t move. Pain blossomed all over his body. He thought the pain he felt earlier while in sector five was unbearable, but this was a different story. He tried to move his hand, but his body wasn’t listening to him.

“Don’t you think you went a little too hard on him?” Minseok asked, his voice sounding low and far away.

Woohyun blinked slowly as he stared at the sky. A single raindrop landed on his face, sliding down his cheek.

“Maybe, but I can’t wait to see Sunggyu’s face when he sees that someone had hurt him,” Myungsoo mused.

Another raindrop landed on his head, trickling into his hair.

And then another.

And another.

Raindrop after raindrop fell from the sky. The sound of the rain pounding against the ground was somewhat soothing.

“…just going to leave him here?”

“Yeah…”

Woohyun wondered what Sunggyu was doing at this moment. Was he still with Suzy? Was he aware that he had left the headquarters?

Did he care?

“ _Sunggyu_ …” He coughed.

Everything went black.


	35. Time is Changing

_Pain　blossomed everywhere._

_He bit his bottom lip to stop himself from crying out loud in pain._

_The sad thing was, he knew the other wasn’t even trying. This was nothing. He knew without a doubt that he could hit much harder._

_He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this much pain, though. Probably not since his mother died, but that was more so mental and emotional, and this–_ this– _was all physical. He rolled over, coughing up the blood that filled his mouth. He took a deep, shallow breath; his body screamed in agony._

_“Don’t make me do this, Sunggyu…” The other sighed. The redhead could hear some shuffling behind.  
Sunggyu pulled himself to his knees as he clutched his side. “I didn’t make you do anything, Yongguk.” A pair of black combat boots appeared in his line of sight. He eyed the shoes for a moment before slowly looking up. Yongguk looked down on him with a frown; angered reflected in his eyes. He cracked his knuckles._

_“I have half a mind to kill you on the spot,” he breathed wearily._

_“Then do it and stop being a_ fucking _coward,” Sunggyu spat as he attempted to rise to his feet. Yongguk didn’t give him a chance, though, and slammed his foot down on the redhead’s back. Sunggyu gave a small, quiet gasp, but stopped himself from screaming and giving the other the satisfaction of being in pain. “You can threaten me as much as you want,” he gritted through his teeth. He wiped away the blood he felt trickling down his face. “But_ fucking do something, _‘cause I’ve got better things than stand here with you punching and intimidating me.” He looked up again at his_ friend.

_Yongguk tsked before raising his fist. “I’ll ask you again, then,_ Kim, _what’s going on between you and Himchan and that_ boy? _Don’t think I haven’t noticed your secret rendezvous with those two…”_

_“It has nothing to do with you.” Sunggyu stumbled to his feet. Pain shot through his body. He clutched side, briefly making note of the possible bruised or broken ribs he acquired._

_“Anything to do with Himchan is my_ business _,” Yongguk sneered._

_Despite the pain, the redhead gave a mocking smirk, “Now you’re just sounding like a jealous–”_

_Yongguk socked Sunggyu across the face, forcing the latter to stagger backwards and crash into the wall behind. He collapsed to the ground immediately, his head slamming into the solid, white tiles. A quick flash of light filled his vision; then everything went back._

_He could feel more blows dealt to his body, but it was beginning hard for him to register it all._

“What are you doing?!” _A familiar voice screamed. However, Sunggyu was too far gone at the moment to put a face to the voice. He didn’t hear Yongguk’s response._

_All he could feel was pain. It felt like he was dying._

_Sunggyu wasn’t sure how long he laid on the floor, deep within the confines of the underground labs of the BEQP, but the only thing he could think of was his mother._

_If he were to die right here, right now, would he see_ her? _Wherever she may have ended up?_

If he could _…, Sunggyu could snorted at his own thought. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t end up where she was. There was a special place in hell for people like him. People who slaughtered and butchered the innocent. The ones whom were fully conscious of the wrongs they committed but did nothing to change it._

_Where he’s going won’t be pretty. It won’t be paradise, and he’s perfectly fine with that. There’s too much blood on his hands, so much that he could fill oceans upon oceans with it._

_He called Yongguk a coward, but if there is anyone that truly deserves that title, it was him. He was the_ fucking coward. _With each new day, someone else,_ someone innocent, _died at his hands. With every breath he took, the realization of the atrocities he had committed came to the forefront of his mind, plaguing his thoughts and dreams. With every step he took, he felt himself get closer and closer to the edge. He wanted it all to end. This pathetic life of his wasn’t worth it, wasn’t worth anything. He didn’t deserve to live. If anyone did, it was his mother._

_What would she say, if she had known of the monstrosity he had become?_

“Sunggyu…” _Someone called his name, halting his spiral of cataclysmic thoughts._ “Stay with me, Sunggyu.” _The voice sounded calm at first, but the underlying uneased tone was evident._

_Through all the pain wracking through his body, he felt something lift his head and then be placed down onto something soft._

“I’m so sorry…” _The voice whispered_. “This is all my fault. I never wanted any of this. I wanted things to change but not like this.”

_With all the strength he had left, Sunggyu opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and everything was bright. Someone was looking down at him, but his mind couldn’t register what was going on._

_“I’m so sorry,” the person said repeated. He felt something wet dab against his cheeks. A wet cloth, perhaps?_

_Sunggyu blinked, trying to adjust to the brightness of the room he was in. “What…?” Sunggyu rasped._

_“You’ve been out for a couple of hours, Sunggyu. Just a concussion–albeit a very_ serious one _–and a few bruised ribs, but you’ll make a full recovery with a weeks’ worth of rest,” the other said, sighing. “Thank god, though. If I had gotten there any later, I’m sure Yongguk….”_

_The other disappeared from his sight. The redhead blinked again, his surroundings slowly becoming clear. Where was he, the infirmary? Wasn’t he just with Yongguk? What had happened? Did he pass out from all the pain? His body was still in a lot of agony._

_“I had to lie to the nurse, to get you in here, I mean,” the other started up again. Sunggyu wasn’t sure where the voice was coming from, and he didn’t have the strength to turn his head. “I told them that you just came back from a small recon mission, but some enemies spotted you and your crew and you got injured in the crossfire. I’m not sure how much they believed me, though. Hopefully, this doesn’t reach any of the superiors.”_

“…huh?” _Sunggyu mumbled. The other was talking too fast and too loud. He couldn’t comprehend anything they were saying._

_A familiar tuft of blond hair appeared in front of him, and with his vision clearing, Sunggyu was able to tell who it was: Himchan. The young man was giving the redhead a strained and exhausted smile. A cup of water was brought to his lips, and Sunggyu drank the liquid without hesitation, not realizing up until now how parched his throat was._

_“What happened?” Sunggyu was finally able to ask after quenching his thirst._

_“Boohyun and I were waiting for you. There was something I really needed to tell you two. The same thing I wanted to talk about the other day when Dr. Wu suddenly announced his new plan for Project K.O.T.” He moved away to sit down on the chair next to where Sunggyu was resting._

_The redhead then noticed that he was, indeed, in the infirmary. It was empty, though._

_“When you didn’t show up, I went searching for you. I went all the way back to the barracks only to find out that you haven’t returned since sun down. I then came back and searched the labs, and that’s when I came across Yongguk beating the shit out of you.”_

_“Unfortunately, he was just holding back. If he actually tried, I’m sure I would had been dead long before you even realize what was going on,” Sunggyu closed his eyes, sighing._

_“I’ve never seen Yongguk so angry before… I mean, Yongguk isn’t the most lenient of people, and you two had never fought like_ this _before, but what spurred this on?” He looked down clenching his fist tightly._

_The young soldier reopened his eyes slowly before slightly turning to look at the blond. “It was about you,” Sunggyu answered. “He wanted to know what was going on between me and you and Boohyun…”_

“What?”

_“He’s suspicious. He knows something is going on. He thought the best way to get the answers out of me was if he beat it out of me–_ literally. _You should tell your boyfriend that he needs to try harder next; I’m specifically trained to resist enemy interrogation and torture.”_

_“Yongguk isn’t our enemy,” Himchan defended._

_“Wasn’t it you who said that Yongguk isn’t like_ us? _Yongguk is a soldier. He puts the government and its goals before all else.”_

_“Yeah but–”_

_“Himchan,_ what are we doing?” _Sunggyu interrupted. He was tired of this all. Tired of the sneaking around. He cared about Himchan. He was like a little brother to him, and he had grown to like Boohyun as well. They were the closets things he had to a family in this godforsaken place. “As much as I enjoy spending my time with you and Boohyun and learning about the past, it’s dangerous._ Too dangerous. _Someone’s going to find out what’s been going on, and Yongguk isn’t going to lie again and protect us. Someone is going to overhear one of conversations one day and take immediate action. Someone is going to get_ killed _, Himchan.”_

_“I’m already_ dying _, so what difference would that make?” Himchan muttered, smiling sadly._

_“What?” Sunggyu asked sharply. “What’s that supposed to mean?” The redhead gripped the side of his hospital bed and slowly sat up. He eyed his friend with confusion and consternation._

_Himchan shook his head, looking down. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you and Boohyun about. But we can wait to have that conversation later.”_

_Sunggyu opened his mouth to voice his opinion, but the detached look in the blond’s eyes told him to listen and wait for when the other was ready to elaborate on what he was possibly alluding to._

_“But you’re right, Sunggyu,” Himchan continued. “It is too dangerous to continue doing_ this _. It won’t be long before someone finds out about what I’ve done.”_

_“What_ you’ve _done?” Sunggyu’s brows furrowed._

_“What we’re doing_ here _, it’s all wrong,” HImchan said, repeating what he had told the redhead a few months back before he had met Boohyun, before he truly began to constantly question every action he acted upon, before he started to become doubtful of the people around him and the ones who’ve sent him on constant assignments every day, resulting in the vicious deaths of hundreds. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, Sunggyu.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You and I both know this world needs to change. YG is killing us all slowly, and South Hallow won’t last long; not at this rate, at least.”_

_“So, what are we supposed to do?” Sunggyu had fully and finally come to terms with Himchan’s way of thinking. Although he is more careful about speaking his thoughts out loud and voicing his disapproval of government. There hasn’t been a single thing the blond had said that he hadn’t already thought about himself on a number of occasions._

_“YG needs to be destroyed,” he whispered, glancing at their surroundings. Sunggyu did the same, feeling his stomach drop at just the mere mentioning of such an act out loud._

_“Yeah, okay. But what can we do? We both don’t rank high enough to even put a dent into YG and his people’s power. We’re just two soldiers;_ what can we do _?”_

_“Well, first, I’m getting you and Boohyun out of here.”_

_“Like that’ll be easy,” Sunggyu snorted._

_Himchan nodded slightly. He leaned back, giving Sunggyu an unreadable expression. “Tell me Sunggyu, how do you feel about starting a_ rebellion _?”_

* * *

 

He placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away slightly.

“But _why_?” She muttered, sounding small. Just from one look, and he could see her heart shattering into pieces–something he never wanted to do.

“I’m sorry, Suzy…” He scratched the back of his neck, looking away. He didn’t have the courage to look her in the eyes anymore.

“I… I don’t… _understand_. _Why_ , _Sunggyu?_ ” Her voice trembled.

“I’m, sorry, Suzy, but you and I… It wouldn’t work. You deserve someone better.” He sighed.

“But I want _you_. I don’t understand, Sunggyu. We were… _we were_ …” She sat down, covering her face. “I thought we had something, Sunggyu. You were always…”

“I’m sorry if it seemed like I felt something, Suzy; I never meant to lead you on in any way, but…” He took a deep breath, sitting down next to her. He didn’t know how to explain himself. He had always seen Suzy as just a little a sister.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

She was just some girl whom he grew up with back at the orphanage. She was just some girl that had always clung onto him.

She was just one of the few children that had somehow escaped the attack on home and had survived on her own all these years.

It had almost been three years since he had suddenly bumped into Suzy in sector four while he was on his way back from a reconnaissance mission with Sungyeol and Hoya. He hadn’t recognized her at first–it had been almost ten years since he had last seen her, and up until that moment, he had assumed she had died during the attack. Her hair was much shorter back then, and it was obvious from her outward appearance that she had been through a lot over the last decade.

It was somewhat of a weird reunion. Sunggyu and the other two were taking one of the many back alleys that had led back to sector two when he had– _literally_ –ran into Suzy. Apparently, she had been working for one of Sunggyu’s many informants in the sector and had just came back from her own mission. They never knew how close they were working with each other without actually _knowing_ they had comrades in common.

Suzy had recognized him instantly. She had cried and launched herself onto Sunggyu, clutching onto him for dear life. Sunggyu, not knowing whom the girl was and not used to such sudden displays of intimacy, had pushed her away. He was ready to end Suzy’s life on the spot had Hoya not pushed the rebel leader to the side and console the girl. After a long-winded explanation with more sobbing in between, Sunggyu had begun to remember the young Suzy and vaguely recalled the memories they had once shared.

Feeling pity for her at the time and the memory of promising to look out for her when they were children looming in the back of his mind, Sunggyu offered for Suzy to come work for him in INFINITE. And after witnessing the information gathering skills she had developed over the years and talking his informant that she had once worked for, eventually, Suzy had risen in the ranks in INFINITE and became a prominent figure, earning her own subsidiary team for reconnaissance and data collecting and other sectors of South Hallow that Sunggyu deemed too far for him and the other main members of INFINITE to travel to. Sunggyu didn’t mind going to these locations himself, but as the leader of the most dangerous resistance group in South Hallow, he couldn’t afford to be too far away and too long from the main headquarters. And thus, a true use of Suzy came to fruition.

“Who?” Suzy questioned, her voice coming out muffled behind her hands.

“Hm?”

“Who is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve known you since we were kids, Sunggyu,” she took a shaky breath. “And I’ve been working for you for the last few years. I had always thought that we could be _something_. If I can’t be with you, then who?” She lowered her hands and turned to him. “Who stole your heart from me?”

Sunggyu sighed, “Suzy, please–”

“I know everyone in INFINITE, and I’ve never seen you _look_ at anyone–”

“Suzy, stop–”

“Either it’s someone you met out on the streets or some new recruitment–”

“It’s none of your concern who I may or may not be in love with!” Sunggyu snapped.

“Don’t you think I have a right?! I get it! You have no feelings for me whatsoever, but at least let me know who it is that you’ve fallen for!” She stood up, crossing her arms. The caramel haired man turned away, not answering. He closed his eyes; he clenched his fists. It was taking all of his patience dealing with Suzy.

Suzy sighed, turning away as well. “The way you’ve been acting for a while now. I’ve never seen you like this. The Sunggyu I knew was always blunt, audacious, and hot-tempered.” She approached his dresser, glancing at the objects that adorned the furniture: a few picture frames here and there, various and incomplete parts from a fragmented handgun, a crumpled up yellow piece of paper with doodles and hearts on it. “You didn’t take crap from anyone, not even your own brother. But here you are… reserved, reticent, taciturn… You’ve been like this since I came back, and you were with...” She reached out to one of the picture frames. Three young boys were printed on it; a redhead, a blond, and a ravenette. Her fingers glossed over the old photograph, lingering on the faded image of the young boy with bright, effulgent red hair.

Sunggyu looked up, his brows furrowed.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Suzy whispered.

Sunggyu sighed. He then stood up. “Suzy…”

“He’s a pretty one,” she pulled her hand away from the frame. “What was his name again?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I heard from some others that he’s not exactly _one of us_. He’s a special case…”

“It’s complicated, Suzy. You wouldn’t understand,” Sunggyu muttered.

She swiftly turned to him, glowering at him.  “All I understand is that you’re in love with someone who isn’t even _from_ here. How could you put so much trust in someone like him? What has he done for us? From what I’ve heard, he’s been causing us a lot of trouble with YG and the authorities from the moment he had stepped foot here. And from what I’ve seen, he’s just a burden, a problem for us. He shouldn’t be here–”

“You don’t even know Woohyun, Suzy. You don’t know what he had been through. What we both had been through. He had save my life at one point, and if wasn’t for him and his _special case_ we probably wouldn’t be here right now with all this newfound information we have on the BEQP and what had been going on down there. _We_ own him a lot,” Sunggyu sneered, narrowing his eyes. He could handle someone insulting him–except that one time with Woohyun–he can handle someone belittling him; he can handle someone disrespecting him, but he saw red when Suzy spoke ill of Woohyun as if she _knew_ him.

Suzy’s eyes softened for a moment, studying Sunggyu. She blinked, looking down, her eyes beginning to sting. “You’re so in love with him. What does he have that I don’t? _Why him?_ ” Her voice broke.

“We’d be here all day, if I had to explain myself,” Sunggyu admitted. He diverted his attention, feeling a bit embarrassed at his own confession. He hadn’t even told the brunet how he actually truly felt.

Suzy nodded, still looking down. Her fists were clenched tightly, her knuckles turning pale. She blinked several times, trying to will away the moisture building up in her eyes. “I see…” She muttered.

It grew quiet in the bedroom. Sunggyu glanced at the clock on his wall. It was almost two o’clock.

What was _he_ doing right now?

His attention was brought back to the girl in front of him when she mumbled something under her breath. Suzy shook her head, appearing to be mentally debating over something. She looked back up to Sunggyu, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks, but she paid them no mind. She opened her mouth a couple of times, but no words came out. She eventually took a shaky breath, before turning away and heading to the door. As she reached it, she gripped the frame of the doorway and stood still for a moment. She looked over her shoulder at Sunggyu, giving him one last longing look before leaving his room completely.

The rebel leader didn’t move for a couple of minutes, expecting the young girl to come barreling back into his room, demanding more explanations as to why he’s not in love with her. But she didn’t come back. Sunggyu was alone again.

He released a loud sigh as he rubbed his face. He felt the oncoming signs of a headache. This was conversation he wasn’t expecting to have, and he felt completely drained from it. He had only returned back to the headquarters a couple of hours ago, and he wanted to catch up on some rest. But there was a certain someone he really wanted to see. He really needed to talk to him.

Deciding to forgo rest for the meantime, Sunggyu left his room, but as he stepped out into the hallway, he noticed a crumpled up piece of yellow paper on the ground. With curiosity bubbling up inside of him, he picked up and inspected it.

Immediately, he could feel his face grow warm, and he knew he must had been as red as a tomato. “ _What the hell_?” He grumbled. He recognized Sungjong’s messy handwriting. And he recognized the boy’s little doodles; there was a similar paper he had received from Sungjong a few weeks back that was currently crumpled up on his dresser, but what really got his attention was the listed contents of the sheet. This was obviously directed towards Woohyun.

_Had Woohyun been here?_

Sunggyu looked down the hallway, but the brunet was nowhere to be seen. Had he come by earlier? The young man frowned, wondering how this got down here. He glanced down back at the paper, feeling a small smile forming on his lips. Well, regardless of how this got here, this was definitely a sure sign that he needed to talk to Woohyun.


	36. You Put the Dream in my Reality

He was cold.

What happened?

His fingers twitched, rubbing against the damp gravel.

Where was he?

He took a deep breath. It took a moment, at first, but pain began to register in his mind. Everything began to ache. He lifted his arm only for it to crash back to the ground with a painful thud. He had no strength to move. A quiet moan of pain escaped his mouth.

A continuous liquid slid down his cheeks, and he realized that it was raining. _It was still raining._ He flinched, feeling heavy raindrop after raindrop land on him. The young man’s eyes fluttered open, but the continuous downpour falling onto him forced him to keep them shut momentarily.

God, everything hurt.

He took another deep breath, mentally willing himself to move. The young brunet, with all of his strength, pushed himself up. He emitted a loud cry of pain as his body throbbed in agony.

“Fuck,” he moaned, doubling over as all of his senses were overthrown with pain. He fell face first back onto the ground, his cheek scraping along the ground as he lost all strength to move. He coughed, and he could taste metallic in his mouth.

He stayed still, taking shallow breaths. He had no strength, no will, no energy. He blinked a couple of times, his vision blurring along the edges. His head throbbed. There was a constant ringing in his ears. He shivered, the weather taking its toll on him.

He lied on the ground, watching the raindrops patter against the earth. It was a very soothing sound, almost enough to relax him and lull him to sleep, almost enough to help him deal with the immense pain he felt all over his body, almost enough to make him forget the events that led him into this current situation. He closed his eyes.

He’s been through a lot since coming to this time–a terrible car crash, being tortured, falling out of an elevator shaft–but the pain blossoming everywhere from that _fucker’s_ punches were definitely something he didn’t want to experience again.

Wait…

L– _Myungsoo_!

Woohyun gasped, opening eyes.

_Myungsoo_ had punched him. He had knocked him out after seeing Woohyun listening in on his conversation with the scientist from the BEQP. _Myungsoo_ was the mole, the traitor that had been messing with INFINITE for some time now.

…INFINITE.

Sunggyu!

The thought of Sunggyu alone was enough to give his body renewed strength.

He needed to warn them, warn Sunggyu!

Myungsoo was the traitor this entire time. And if he didn’t hurry back to the headquarters, then it would be too late.

What time was it? How long was he out? Was it too late?

Woohyun took a deep breath as he slowly pulled himself to his feet. His world spun, his vision went white, and he felt his body crash into the brick wall behind him. He slid against the wall back down to the ground

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath as he attempted to stand up again. He swallowed thickly, doing his best to ignore the pain. He used the wall as leverage as he stumbled to his feet. He leaned against it as he eyed his surroundings. He was still in the small alleyway that Myungsoo and his cohort left him in earlier. He was deep within the backstreet, too far from the entrance to see if anyone was around. He doubted it, though. With how heavy it was pouring, no one would want to traverse the streets this late. And he had no clue how long he had been out.

If he remembered correctly, it was a little after seven when he had left sector five. The brunet looked up to the sky; the rain thrummed against him steadily. The never ending sunset sky had turned a dark shade of orange and various tints and hues of red and blue mixed together, giving the sky an evening twilight appeal.

With a shaky sigh, the young man looked down. He raised his hand, placing it gently against his chest. He could still feel the infinity necklace cold and wet pressed against his skin under his shirt. Thank God he didn’t lose that again.

The brunet blinked and gave another sigh before lowering his hand. He couldn’t remember how long it would take to get back to sector two from here, but he needed to hurry before it was too late. He pushed himself off the wall but kept a hand pressed against it for in case he lost his strength and footing again. His other hand clutched his side. The quick jab Myungsoo landed on his torso hurt like hell, and he briefly wondered if any of his ribs were badly bruised.

He began to slowly walk down the path, deeper into the backstreet. With each step, his body screamed and howled in agony, but he persevered. Warning Sunggyu was more important than his own wellbeing.

“You can do this, Woohyun,” he mumbled to himself. “You have to hurry and get back to Sunggyu.”

* * *

 

His body had grown numb. He couldn’t feel much anymore. He was freezing from the rain, and he felt like he would collapse at any given moment. A path that should had only taken an hour at the most had turned into almost three, but for the first time in a while, Woohyun was able to feel a sense of relief wash over him as his eyes fell upon the worn down warehouse that housed the headquarters of INFINITE below it in the distance.

With strength he was not aware of still having, he felt his body move on its own accord. He ran as fast as he could towards the entrance. When he reached the doors, he grabbed the handle and slid them open.

The warehouse reeked of damp and mold, but there were no signs of a struggle, no signs of a forced entry, no signs of Myungsoo and YGs people attacking the headquarters. All seemed well at the moment. He wouldn’t truly know what the situation was till he reached the main floor. He prayed and prayed for the wellbeing of everyone as he approached the elevator doors.

The elevator gave a small jingle as he walked in and inputted the code that allowed him to go underground. As the lights flickered in and out, Woohyun clutched his side again and leaned against the wall. With no longer running in the rain and the sudden adrenaline from seeing the headquarters fading away, he was feeling nearly dead with fatigue. He was exhausted. Everything hurt. And his head was still badly throbbing.

He felt his body give in, and he slid to the floor. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, his chest shuddering in pain. It would be a couple of minutes before he reached the bottom floor. Maybe it would be okay to take a little break? His body needed it. It was screaming at him in pain. He was at his limit. The brunet’s head lulled to the side as the joggling of the lift somewhat relaxed him. The constant ringing of the elevator grew faint…

“ _Woohyun?_ ” A very faint voice called out. It sounded concerned.

It sounded scared.

Everything was still. Did the elevator stop? Had he already reached the bottom? But didn’t he just get in? There was a lot of noise in the background, but it sounded muffled and far away.

“ _Woohyun, can you hear me?_ ” It was the same voice, so rich and melodic.

So soothing.

A cool hand pressed against his neck before moving to his cheeks and then finally his forehead. He gave a low sigh of relief; the hand felt amazing against his feverish skin. “ _You’re soaking wet and burning up_ …”

Woohyun’s eyes fluttered open, and he saw Sunggyu crouching in front of him. He was still in the elevator. The voices in the background grew louder as his mind continued to register what was going on around him. Sungjong was standing behind him, holding the doors open. He looked scared and confused.

The brunet blinked, taking in Sunggyu’s appearance. The older man looked haggard. A frown marred his face. And his brows were deeply furrowed. But his eyes spoke differently. There was relief and happiness that swam in them, but behind it all they glinted with unease. Woohyun wondered if he was the reasoning behind such an expression.

“S-Sunggyu,” Woohyun whispered. He wanted to say more, but suddenly, he couldn’t find the right words. So much had happened today. Where would he start? How would he explain who had and continue to be behind the slow, inevitable downfall of INFINITE?

“What happened? Where’ve you _been_?” Sunggyu started. He reached out, and Woohyun felt a thumb graze his skin below his right eye. He quickly hissed and flinched away in pain, missing the look of pure contempt that momentarily flashed on Sunggyu’s face. “ _Who_ _did this to you_?”

Woohyun opened his mouth, about to blurt out _his_ name, but he was interrupted.

“Sunggyu, we need you back. This discussion is important, and we need to make an immediate decision about what we should do with… _oh, well speak of the devil._ ”  Myungsoo walked into the elevator, his attention falling onto Woohyun. Said young man narrowed his eyes, seeing the ravenette.

_How dare he?_

Sunggyu felt the brunet tense up the moment Myungsoo entered the lift. He eyed Woohyun, taking in his apprehensive state. He then glanced at Myungsoo, not liking the smirk that graced his usual stoic face.

“Look who finally decided to show up?” Myungsoo snorted.

Woohyun sneered, “ _You son of a_ –”

“You have a lot of guts to show up here after what happened,” Myungsoo turned around, leaving the elevator.

“I do?!” Woohyun pulled away from Sunggyu’s grasp, and using the elevator wall as help, the brunet pulled himself to his feet. He pushed passed Sungjong and stumbled out of the elevator, following after him. How dare Myungsoo act like nothing had happened, like he didn’t overhear his conversations of committing mutiny.

“Do you think you can get away with…?” The brunet trailed off as he fully stepped out of the elevator. His brows furrowed, and he frowned as he noticed that the entire main room of the headquarters was full of the members of INFINITE. All the voices had died down.

Everyone was staring at him. Woohyun wasn’t close to the people whom made up INFINITE–excluding Sunggyu and the others–but he never thought they would be staring down at him like this, even when he first showed up. Some were sneering and frowning. Others were muttering under their breaths, obviously talking about him. The look of betrayal etched on their faces.

“W-What’s going on?” Woohyun frowned, eyeing everyone.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu started, walking out of the elevator. He was frowning at the brunet, the concern in his voice and eyes were gone. The detached Sunggyu was back. Sungjong was standing next to him; his arms were crossed. He avoided Woohyun’s questioning glance. “Where’ve you been?” His voice was stiff and distant.

The brunet stuttered, swallowing thickly, “W-W-What? I–”

“Why don’t you tell them, Woohyun,” Myungsoo said, gesturing to everyone in the room.  “Tell them how I caught you conspiring with the enemy! Tell everyone how, from the moment you stepped foot in here, you’ve been working with YG and his people to mess with us, to distract us, to _destroy us._ ”

“I–What?! N-No, that’s not true!” He claimed. “You’re a lying piece of shit, you know that?” Woohyun pointed at him. He couldn’t believe this. What was Myungsoo trying to do? “I haven’t betrayed you; none of you! Why would I? What would I gain from it? I’m not even from _here._ He’s the one–”

“Woohyun,” Hoya interrupted, stepping out of the crowd. He stood next to Myungsoo. He took a deep breath; the obvious confliction was written in his eyes. “L has told us about your secret meeting with that scientist from the BEQP. You were spotted in sector four–”

“That’s not true! He’s lying, Hoya. I–”

“Then where were you today? You obviously weren’t in the headquarters. You were last spotted this morning before leaving the premises. Is that not true?”

“I–Yes, I did leave, but not to meet some damn scientist. I just–”

“What were your reasons for leaving then? After everything we’ve been through, that _you've_ been through, you know how dangerous it is to just up and leave without–”

“It’s not like I wanted to really leave, but I just…” What was he supposed to say? How could he just tell everyone he left because he almost walked in on his mom and the man he had fallen for sharing an intimate moment with each other and he couldn’t, emotionally, handle it? “I didn’t sneak out, though. Sungjong saw me!” He turned to the younger, mentally pleading for some help.

“Is that true, Sungjong?” Dongwoo asked. He also stepped out of the crowd to address the situation.

“I–Yeah. I saw him leave,” Sungjong stated. He was quiet for a moment before continuing. “We, uh, talked for a second before I helped him with the code to use the elevator.”

“So you were in on this too?” Hoya assumed, frowning.

“No! I’m not in on anything! I would never betray INFINITE. And neither would Woohyun. You all know this,” Sungjong defended. He stepped forward, standing beside the brunet. “Woohyun may have not been with us for that long, but he is just as dedicated to us and our cause just like the rest of us!”

“Then why were you out? What was the reason?”

“I… I…” Woohyun was at a loss for words. “I just needed some air. I have been cooped up in this place for a little over a month, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

“And so you left and went all the way to sector four to contact your comrades?!” Hoya snapped.

“No, I didn’t! I just wondered away for a while. I stumbled into sector five and walked around the little street festival that had going on. That’s all. I did end up in sector four afterwards–”

“So that you could meet up with that–”

“ _–Only to find my way back home!_ The last time I was in that area, I was with Sunggyu. Earlier, I had recognized the area and knew how to get back here, but then I saw _him!_ ” He gestured to Myungsoo, disdain towards the latter evident in his voice. “ _He_ was the one talking to the scientist! I saw him scheming with that man. They were talking about orders Yongguk gave them. A-And his name is not even L! It’s actually _Myungsoo_!”

Muttering filled the room as the members of INFINITE conversed about Woohyun’s side of the story. Some seemed confused while others shook their heads in disbelief. A look of utter astonishment flickered across Myungsoo’s face for a brief moment before a smile reappeared.

“Is that so? And with what proof, Woohyun?” He shot back. The brunet’s brows furrowed at the question. “I’ve been at headquarters all day. You can look at the cameras. I’ve been working on the plans for our next mission till our leader rounded some of us up to go and look for you. Right, Dongwoo? I’ve haven’t been in contact with any scientist, like you said.”

“Uh, yeah…?” Dongwoo frowned, looking at the ravenette.

“It doesn’t take long to get to sector four from here. You had enough time to contact your bosses during the meantime,” Woohyun claimed. The doubt and skepticism could be seen returning on the rebels’ faces.

“Uh huh,” he shrugged. “How long did it take for you to come up with this sorry excuse of a story?”

“This is a load of bullshit,” Woohyun mumbled.

“Hmph,” a young woman huffed. The brunet glanced at the person the voice belonged to. It was Suzy. “Sounds like he’s lying to me,” she pointed to Wooyun. “L’s been with us for a couple of years now. He’s trustworthy. But you, on the other hand, I’ve heard that INFINITE had been compromised on every missions since you’ve arrived. I think we all know what’s going on here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Woohyun groaned. “Listen here, woman–”

“What’s your intake on this, Leader?” Myungsoo asked, looking to Sunggyu.

Woohyun turned to him. Sunggyu had been quiet this entire time. His calculating eyes flickered between Myungsoo and Woohyun before settling on the latter. He crossed his arms, frowning.

The rebel leader was quiet for a moment before finally speaking up, “We’ve heard both sides of the story, and despite the proof we’ve been given, I think it’s best that for the meantime you two are both put under surveillance while I go over–”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, sir, although you may be our leader, don’t you think it’s a _bit_ unfair that you get to make this decision without anyone else’s input? You have all the proof you need to see _your_ Woohyun as the mole, the traitor that has been screwing us over for a while now and all you’re going to do is throw him into one of the interrogation rooms?” Myungsoo derided.

“And what are you trying to get at?” He stepped up, glaring at Myungsoo.

“I’m just trying to make this fair for everyone, Leader.” He held both of his hands up in defense. There was a playful smile on his face. “I think we all should have the chance to decide on who’s guilty and how they should be handled. This should be a democracy.” The rebel members all cheered, agreeing with him.

“Yeah, Sunggyu! We’re part of INFINITE too!”

“Traitors should be dealt with properly!”

“L is innocent!”

Woohyun swallowed thickly, looking at everyone in the room. They were yelling, protesting at Sunggyu, and Myungsoo just stood in the center of it all, smiling at what he had caused.

The brunet closed his eyes, scared of what was to come. There were too many people on Myungsoo’s side. No one would listen to him. All the odds were against him. There was no proof of Myungsoo being the mole. He had covered his bases well.

“Fine,” Sunggyu spat, glowering at Myungsoo. “I’ll give you all chance to decide on what should happen, but I still get the final say.”

Sungjong grabbed Sunggyu by the arm, getting his attention. “But Sunggyu–” Said man narrowed his eyes at the younger man, shutting him up.

“So who here believes that I am guilty?” Myungsoo asked. No one raised their hands. “And who here thinks that Woohyun is the traitor?” _Everyone_ raised their hands, except for Dongwoo, Hoya, and Sungjong.

Sunggyu didn’t raised his hand either. His arms were crossed. He glanced at Woohyun.

Woohyun was frustrated. His vision grew slightly blurry from his unshed tears. This was all too overwhelming. This couldn’t possibly be happening. This reminded him of when he first came to this time. Everyone was suspicious of him then too, but compared to now, that was nothing.

“Any suggestions on how to handle the traitor?”

“He works for YG, right? Let’s just give him back.”

“Torture him. Interrogate him for information.”

“Kill him–”

“Enough,” Sunggyu shouted. Everyone grew quiet; all eyes were on him. “You’ve all made your point. _Woohyun’s the traitor_.”

The brunet’s heart dropped at his words. If there was anyone he had hoped to believe him, it was Sunggyu.

“Until we come all agree on how to handle this, for the meantime, we’ll lock him.”

Someone in the crowd shouted, “But–”

“One more word or disagreement that comes out of anyone’s mouth, and I will not hesitate to shoot you.” Sunggyu narrowed his eyes at Myungsoo, anger building up in him from the contented smirk on his face. He then swiftly turned around and grabbed Woohyun by the wrist, dragging him away from the group. The brunet flinched from the harsh grip Sunggyu had on him.

“Sunggyu…?” He whispered to him as they broke out of the crowd but the older man ignored him.

* * *

 

Woohyun wasn’t sure how long he had been cooped out in the interrogation that Sunggyu practically threw him in. He was sure a couple of hours had gone by. He hugged himself shivering. His clothes were still drenched from the rain, and every few minutes he kept sneezing.

What was going to happen now? What were they going to do with him? Was this the end? He touched the infinity necklace that he was still wearing. This wasn’t the time to give up. But what could he do to convince them Myungsoo was the real traitor? Everyone in INFINITE trusted him. He had been fighting alongside them for a long time; of course they would be skeptical of him being the possible mole. It was literally his word against Myungsoo, and he had no proof to back it up.

The door suddenly opened, and Sunggyu walked in. He stood in the doorway, looking at Woohyun for a moment before fully stepping in, his eyes never leaving the brunet. Woohyun held his breath, waiting for the other to say something. Sunggyu closed the door gently before approaching the table Woohyun was seated at. The latter prepared himself for whatever Sunggyu was going to throw his way.

“Here,” he quietly said, placing a bag on the table. Woohyun brows furrowed, eyeing it. He glanced at Sunggyu one more time before hesitantly reaching for the bag. He peered inside and saw a bundle of clothes. He dumped the contents on the table, just a simple pair of pants and a shirt and hoodie, no doubt from Dongwoo’s collection. There was also a towel. He picked it up, feeling the soft fabric rub against the pads of his fingers. Sunggyu placed another bag on the table, much smaller than the previous. The brunet could see bandages and rubbing alcohol in it.

“You’re still soaking wet. At this rate, you’ll catch a flu again. We don’t have the medical supplies to handle that–”

“Why?” Woohyun cut him off. His voice was low. “Why are you doing this?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

“Everyone thinks I betrayed them.” He placed the towel back down. “There’s no way I can prove my innocence. It probably won’t be long before you all come up with a decision on how to get rid of me. Why do something like this for me now?”

Sunggyu looked away. He opened his mouth but then quickly closed it, not answering the younger. Woohyun also looked away, biting his bottom lip. It was hard enough seeing the people he considered friends– _family_ –not believe him, not giving him the benefit of the doubt. But seeing Sunggyu hesitant around him, not trusting him, not giving him a true chance to defend himself broke his heart.

Woohyun reached for the bag, pulling out the shirt. He stood up, lifting the hem of shirt. “Listen, Sunggyu,” He took his drenched shirt off, ignoring the sharp pain that ran up his spine. He swallowed thickly before continuing, “Regardless if you believe me or not, L– _er_ , _Myungsoo_ –isn’t to be trusted. I overheard him talking with that scientist. They were talking about Yongguk–I think that was his name–and some sort of mission that was given to Myungsoo.” He reached the for the shirt, not noticing Sunggyu staring at him. “They’re planning something. I think there’s going to be an–”

“Who did that to you?” Sunggyu interrupted.

Woohyun looked to him and noticed him staring at his body. He was sure his face had turned red as he took a step back, pressing the shirt against him, attempting to hide himself from Sunggyu. That didn’t stop him, though, for the other walked around the table up to him, snatching the shirt out of his hand and tossing onto the table. He then reached out, his fingers grazing the brunet’s bruised ribs. His skin had already turned a terrible shade of blue and purple. The latter flinched in pain, taking another step back.

“Who did this to you?” He repeated, frowning. He clenched his fist, his knuckled turning a pale white.

“Does it even matter?”

“Of course it does. I care; I care about you, Woohyun.”

Woohyun scoffed the statement, rolling his eyes, ignoring the pangs in his heart. He refused to listen. “Care? _You still care_? It didn’t seem like you _cared_ out there. It didn’t seem like you _cared_ _this morning_!”

“What–this morning?”

The brunet realized what he had said and quickly covered his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say that. He didn’t want to remember anything from this morning. His feelings didn’t matter anymore. There were more important matters.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He reached for the discarded shirt on the table and quickly put them on, trying his best to ignore the flash of hurt in Sunggyu’s eyes.

Sunggyu was quiet for a moment before muttering, “It does matter, Woohyun. Anything related to you matters.” The brunet’s hands froze as he reached for the hoodie in the bag. “I… care about you. I really do. You mean a lot to me–”

The words slipped out. “But I saw you. I saw you with her.”

Sunggyu’s brows furrowed. “Saw me with who?”

“ _Suzy_.” Well, the cat was let out of the bag. Just the thought of those two together alone depressed him. He glanced at Sunggyu. The other’s eyes had widened; his mouth slightly agape.

“You saw me with…?” Sunggyu felt like the wind was knocked out of him from Woohyun’s confession. He swallowed thickly, trying to come up with the words to explain himself. “Woohyun, it… It wasn’t what you thought it was. Suzy, she–”

Woohyun sighed, looking away. “You don’t need to explain yourself, Sunggyu. I just wish…”

“No, listen–”

“If I had known that you two were a _thing_ –”

“We weren’t a _thing_. There never was a _thing_!”

“You can’t just say that you care, and then go around kissing other people.” _Kissing his mom, he wanted to say._ His vision blurred with unshed tears. “I don’t know what it’s like here, but in _my time_ , it’s looked down upon to be leading someone on when you’re involved with someone else.”

“She kissed me–”

“I…” He breathed, his voice shaky. He closed his eyes, covering his face with his hands. He gave a frustrated sigh. This was not how he wanted to have this conversation. There were more important things to discuss than their feelings and love lives.

“Stop, Woohyun, just stop. Listen to me.” Sunggyu reached out, pulling the younger’s hands away from his face. Woohyun opened his eyes. “Suzy kissed _me_. I know that’s not really an excuse, but you’ve got to understand. Suzy is like a little sister me. Nothing more.”

The brunet shook his head, pulling away from the other’s grasp. “Why did kiss me, Sunggyu?”

“I kissed you because I have feelings for you.”

Woohyun blinked. It took a moment for his statement to register in Woohyun’s mind.

Sunggyu scratched his nape, and Woohyun noticed the faded red on his cheeks. “This is my fault for not saying anything… I’m… sorry if it seemed like I was leading you on and taking advantage of you. But I wasn’t; I really do care for you. You _know_ I’m not good at these things, expressing myself.” He gave a small sigh, his eyes flickering down. “I don’t have any feelings for Suzy. She came onto me. You’re the only one that I have feelings for, Woohyun.”

Woohyun swallowed thickly, his face feeling hot from the confession. He wasn’t expecting this. He was expecting Sunggyu to break his heart further. He was expecting Sunggyu to tell him he was in love with Suzy.

“I…” Woohyun willed away the butterflies that fluttered about in his stomach. He gave a small hesitant smile. “I’m in love with you, Sunggyu.”

The rebel leader looked up. The brunet could see the shock in his eyes. And then Sunggyu smiled in return. What did this mean for them now? Woohyun rolled his shoulders, feeling light suddenly. Despite the looming threat of Myungsoo and the possible attack on the rebel base, hearing Sunggyu’s confession made him feel giddy inside. He hadn’t felt like this in a long time, a sense of happiness washed over him. 

And yet, a feeling of dread mixed in with it. Something didn’t seem right. Not with Sunggyu, and not with their confession, per say, but something else was giving him this foreboding feeling. The young man mentally shook his head, pushing these feeling to back for the meantime.

Sunggyu opened his mouth to say something, but Woohyun suddenly sneezed, cutting him off. He then sneezed again and again. “Change into the rest of the clothes I brought. You’re still wet.”

Woohyun sniffed, having completely forgotten that he was once soaked to the bone from the rain. He shivered slightly, reaching for the pants. Sunggyu crossed his arms, frowning. He was sure the younger was going to be sick after this. He leaned back against the table, sitting on the ledge. Woohyun unbuttoned his pants but stopped and looked at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu stared back.

Woohyun froze in his spot, continuing his stare.

“What?”

“I’m changing.”

“I know.”

“So…” Woohyun waved his arms at the other.

Sunggyu didn’t get it. “What is this you’re doing?” He snarled, imitating the brunet. Just because he told the younger that he liked him didn’t mean he was still annoying in certain aspects.

“Are you just going to stand here and watch me undress?” Woohyun rolled his eyes. It’s been a little over a month since Woohyun came to this time, and he had already gotten used to Sunggyu’s snarky attitude. He wasn’t as afraid of the man as he used to be.

However, a flustered Sunggyu? 

That was new for him. “Oh.” Sunggyu quickly stood up straight and walked to the other side of the room, giving his back to the other. Woohyun snorted before quickly peeling off his wet pants and switching into dry ones. He then quickly slipped on the hoodie.

“You can look now.”

Sunggyu slowly turned around, a blush still evident on his face. Woohyun sat down and grabbed the towel off the table and dried his hair.

“Woohyun.” Said man glanced at him. The flustered expression was gone. A grim expression took its place. “As much as I would like to talk more about… well, you know. I need to know what happened. What L has told us…”

“I’m not the traitor, Sunggyu.”

“I know.” He pulled up another chair and sat down next to the brunet.

“You do? But back out there–”

“I needed to say that in order to get you out of there. If I didn’t appease to them, and get you the fuck out of there, who knows what could had happen. Not everyone in INFINITE is of the most stable of conditions.”

“Stable, huh?” Sunggyu had no room to talk about being mentally stable.

“Was he the one who did this to you?” He reached out, his fingers rubbing against the bruise under Woohyun’s eye. The latter nodded, quietly hissing from the pain. Sunggyu pursed his lips in anger.

“His real name is Myungsoo–or at least that’s what the scientist called him.” Woohyun then explained how he came across Myungsoo conspiring with the BEQP scientist. He left out the details about finding the necklace; it wasn’t the time to discuss that.

Sunggyu was quiet for a moment, his arms crossed. His brows furrowed in concertation. “I’ve been working alongside L for the last couple of years, but I’ve always had my suspicions about him.” The rebel leader had always been wary of Myungsoo. When the latter had come up to him earlier, spouting about Woohyun betraying them, he had known then that something wasn’t right about the situation. Sure, everything Myungsoo had said sounded oddly truthful, but he wouldn’t believe anything until he heard from Woohyun. He couldn’t say the same for the other rebels, though. They believed him in a heartbeat. It also didn’t help that Woohyun was nowhere to be seen at the time.

When he had saw Woohyun in the elevator on the verge of passing out, bruised, bloody, and soaking wet, it took everything in his power to not immediately storm out of the base, looking for the one who had hurt him. If he had known it was Myungsoo…

“Listen, Sunggyu. Something terrible is about to happen. I just know it. Myungsoo is planning something, an attack; I’m sure of it. He and Minseok–the scientist–were talking about it.” He wanted to tell the other everything his mother had told him on her deathbed, but then he would have to explain how Suzy is actually his mother, and that was something that couldn’t happen. Woohyun was sure that if he revealed such a thing, the events of the past, _his past_ could possibly change. “You have to trust me on this, Sunggyu.”

“If Myungsoo is truly working with the BEQP, and in turn, Yongguk, I wouldn’t put it past them to try some sort of ambush.” He was oddly calm for someone who had just been told that he headquarters was going to be attacked.

“What are we going to do?”

Sunggyu stared into space, drumming his fingers on the table. Woohyun could tell he was forming a plan. “What’s going to happen is that you’re going to stay here.” He ordered, standing up.

“What, why?” Woohyun frowned. He stood up as well.

“If what you say is true, then besides destroying this place, you’re their main target, and I need you to stay here for safety reasons.”

Before Woohyun could object anymore, a loud noise came from outside. The impact of the sound shook the walls. The lights briefly flickered on and off before the room was completely submerged into darkness. The brunet reached for Sunggyu to keep his balance. “ _What_ was that?” He whispered. The rebel leader pulled out a lighter, flicking it on. The soft glow of the lighter illuminated the room.

The door to the interrogation room slammed open, and Sungjong came stumbling in with a flashlight in hand. “Sunggyu!” Dongwoo was right behind him. He noticed how close Sunggyu and Woohyun was to each other and gave them an unnoticed wary look.

“What’s going on?” He demanded.

“We don’t know,” Dongwoo answered. “There was an explosion. I think it came from above, and then the lights switched off. Everything’s offline, the cameras, the security. Even the backup generators are down”

“Shit,” Sunggyu muttered. “We’re going to have to manually turn it back on.”

“What should we do?” Sungjong asked. The boy was visibly shaken.

“You.” He pointed to Sungjong. “Stay with Woohyun. Dongwoo, get Hoya, and tell him I’ll meet him in the control room. And then come back and stay with these two.” Dongwoo nodded, running out of the room.

As Sunggyu was about to leave the room himself, Woohyun called out, “Do you think that this is the attack?”

Sunggyu glanced over his shoulder. “Possibly. Stay on guard you two.” They both nodded. The rebel leader didn’t move for a moment before quickly turning around and walking back up to Woohyun. “You left this in your room.” He pulled a knife out of his back pocket. Woohyun recognized it as the same knife Sunggyu had given to him during the last mission. He felt a sense of déjà vu as he took it from the other.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, pressing the knife to his chest. He felt uneasy holding it.

“Sunggyu, be careful, please,” Sungjong pleaded.  He rushed up to him and hugged him. Sunggyu gave a tight hug in return, telling him to be careful as well. When he pulled away, he gave Woohyun a small nod before leaving. The young man gripped the knife tightly, hoping that whatever was going on had nothing to do with the possible attack.

Sungjong glanced at Woohyun. The latter was standing by the door. He walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Woohyun.” He tried to comfort the other. “The rain probably short-circuited something outside. The weather sometimes gets really crazy around this time of year.”

“I hope you’re right.” The brunet mumbled.

“Um, Woohyun?”

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry about earlier…” Sungjong’s eyes flickered down. He picked at the lint ball on his sleeve.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t defend you that well.”

Woohyun turned to him.

“I know you’re innocent. I trust you, Woohyun. I know the things L had said couldn’t be true. They didn’t make sense to me. Why would you conspire with the enemies? After everything that had happened, it wouldn’t make sense to do the things L had said. I just wish the others could see that too.”

“It’s okay, Sungjong. I mean, what can you do? Everyone trusts him.”

“Why would L say those things, though? I hard to believe that you’re our enemy, but it’s also hard to believe that he’s the mole. Everyone’s talking about how to get rid of you and all that, and I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I’m happy that you and… and Sunggyu believes me. That’s all that matters, Sungjong.” He gave the young boy a soft smile. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a side hug.

“I’m sure if Sungyeol had been there, he would had believed you and not L, especially since he was with us this morning!” There was another loud crash, coming from outside. The ground shook again. Woohyun and Sungjong reached for the wall for stability. “What the hell is going on?” Some yelling could be heard, but it was muffled.

“Maybe we should go?” Woohyun suggested. The ground shook again. “It might’ve been safer to just stay with Sunggyu.”

“But he told us to stay here.”

Suddenly the door opened. Dongwoo calmly walked in.

“Hey, is everything alright out there?” Sungjong inquired.

“Uh, yeah. Things are fine. You two okay?”

They both nodded. “What’s going on out there?”

Before Dongwoo could answer, the lights flickered back on. However, they continued to go in and out. Woohyun squinted his eyes, adjusting to the brightness.

There was another loud crash. It sounded much closer to them. Dust and small particles fell from the concrete ceiling. There was yelling and screaming, and Woohyun knew at that moment that they were under attack. Everything Myungsoo had planned came true. Everything _Suji_ had said came true. They needed to get of here before it was too late.

Woohyun grabbed Sungjong’s hands. “We need to go.”

“But–”

“Say, Woohyun,” Dongwoo started. He pulled his gun out, eyeing it. “Tell me, what exactly did Myungsoo and Minseok talk about when you overheard their conversation?”

Woohyun furrowed his brows at the question. It wasn’t the time to be talking about that when they were obviously under attack. “Um, they mentioned about Myungsoo getting orders to takedown INFINITE but leave Sunggyu alive…” He pulled Sungjong to the door, but Dongwoo stood in front of it, blocking it. The second-in-command slowly cocked his pistol.

“And?”

The brunet blinked, eyeing the gun in Dongwoo’s hand. “Uh, maybe we should talk about this a little later?”

“What else did Minseok say?” He took a step forward.

“Dongwoo is this really the time?” Sungjong grumbled. He pulled his hand out of Woohyun’s grasp and stepped in front of him.

Woohyun slowly said, “He told Myungsoo to let his partner know about the change of plans…”

Wait.

The brunet narrowed his eyes at the man. “How did you know Minseok’s name? I only mentioned it to Sunggyu…”

Dongwoo stared at Woohyun, not responding.

The brunet swallowed thickly. A sense of realization came over him. He tightened his hold on the knife, taking a step back.

“Please, let’s just go!” Sungjong turned around to the brunet. “I’m worried about the others. I think I can hear gunshots!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Woohyun saw Dongwoo raise his hand.

It was quick, and he blinked, his body not reacting to the sound of the gunshot. Sungjong’s head snapped forward, but he didn’t fall. He stood still, staring into Woohyun’s eyes.

Everything grew quiet. The sound of explosions from outside became muffled. Sungjong’s lips were moving, but there was no sound.

Woohyun stumbled backwards, his back crashing into the wall. His eyes were wide, his mouth agape. Warm liquid slid down his face.

“ _W-Woohyun_?” His voice was small.

So small and low.

He sounded confused.

Afraid.

He could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears.

The young boy coughed and staggered forward. He raised his arm, reaching for the older boy in front of him.

“ _Why is there blood on you_?”

His eyes were wide and bemused, the light slowly fading away. Sungjong fell forward, his body colliding into him, his head slamming into the wall beside his own. The weight of the body forced Woohyun to slide to the ground with a thump. A trail of blood was left in its wake. Smoke emitted from the hole in the back of his head, and his own hands trembled. A continuous trail of blood oozed onto him, spilling down his front. His body was stiff and lifeless, and it became hard for Woohyun to breathe.

He screamed.


	37. Eternal Separation

His hands trembled. It was hard to breathe. He couldn’t move; the young boy’s body was stiff and lifeless.

Heavy.

Dead.

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His voice had given up. He swallowed the lump in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut. Footsteps echoed, sounding close to him, and Woohyun didn’t have the strength to open his eyes and look up.

“Don’t think I wanted this,” the other claimed. “But he was in the way. He wouldn’t had survived _this_ anyway.”

Woohyun hesitantly opened his eyes, looking down. _His_ blood was still spilling down his front. It was warm, and there was so much of it. The hole in the back of his head still had smoke emitting from it, his burgundy hair matted with blood.

Sungjong’s eyes were still open.

Blank and dead.

He was alive and well and talking to him just a minute ago, and now here he was, cold and _gone_ in his arms.

“Sungjong...”

His name slipped. His vision blurred, and all he could do was just stare at the young boy he had called his friend.

His _family_.

Dongwoo watched as sobs wracked through Woohyun’s fragile frame. His own eyes lingering on Sungjong’s dead body before placing his gun back in its holster. “C’mon we need to go. We got places to go and people to meet. You’re overdue for a meeting with the boss.”

Woohyun ignored him, his sobs getting louder. The young brunet gripped Sungjong’s shirt, burying his face into his neck.

This wasn’t happening.

_This couldn’t be happening._

Dongwoo walked up to Woohyun and bent down, his hand clasping onto the back of Sungjong’s shirt. He gave a hard tug and forced the dead body off of Woohyun. He paid no mind to the guttural yell Woohyun released and grabbed the latter by the collar of his bloody shirt, forcing him to stand up.

Woohyun pushed Dongwoo away harshly. “ _You killed him._ ” He whispered, more to himself, though. “ _You killed Sungjong._ ” He covered his mouth, his eyes widening.

Sunggyu.

Oh god. Sungjong’s dead, and _Sunggyu’s_ not back yet. Sunggyu doesn’t know. Sunggyu doesn’t know his little brother is dead.

The ground shook, and Woohyun almost forgot the other situation at hand. The INFINITE headquarters was under attack, and one of the co-conspirators was right in front of him, and Sungjong’s was dead, and it was hard for Woohyun to breathe again.

The ground shook again. Dust and particles fell from the ceiling. Dongwoo looked towards the door, muttering something. He turned back to the brunet. “Alright, let’s go.”

Woohyun scoffed. “ _Go_? _Go where_? Like hell I’m going anywhere with you. You… You… killed…”

“You don’t have a choice in the matter. I was ordered–”

“How _could_ you?! We trusted you. Sunggyu trusted you. _Sungjong_ trusted you.” His voice cracked.

Dongwoo sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time for this. I’m on a schedule, and I’d rather not get caught in the crossfire.”

“Why?” His voice was low.

“You’re a key factor in the boss’ plans, and it’s my job to bring you in one piece, alive. But I will hurt you if you don’t cooperate–”

“ _Fuck that, and_ _fuck you!_ ”

Dongwoo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Don’t start acting tough all of a sudden. Without your knight and shining armor, what are you gonna do?”

Woohyun was tired, but from what exactly? He wasn’t sure how long he had been in this time. Perhaps, a little longer than a month, but it felt like forever. He could barely remember what life had used to be like. He could barely remember the simple times, the times when all he had to worry about were the essay papers due every week or making sure his mother had eaten something or another. But this– _all of this_ –was just too much. It was too much for him, and Woohyun was tired. Exhausted. There was a long list of names– _Sunggyu being quite high said list_ –and reasons as for why he felt the way he did, but he was pretty sure _this_ was number one on that list.

Why did everyone assume that he was useless without Sunggyu?

Sure, if it was between him and a spider, the spider would win– _fuck_ those creatures–but he knew how to fight. He could defend himself, when necessary. He _did_ beat the crap out of Tao with a keyboard. He knew how to fire a gun–Hoya would say otherwise. He had Sunggyu’s knife to protect himself.

He had killed before.

He had killed Junhong.

But…

This was Dongwoo.

_His friend_.

Dongwoo took a step forward, hand gripping the gun in holster. “ _Please_ , Woohyun, don’t make this harder for the both of us.” He took another step.

“Don’t come any closer,” he shook his head. He glanced at Sungjong on the ground, blood still pooling around him. Sunggyu’s knife laid beside him.

Dongwoo stopped advancing towards him, narrowing his eyes at Woohyun. Said brunet stared back, his hands twitching in anticipation. He didn’t want to confront his friend, but he had no choice. He needed to get out of here, warn the others of Dongwoo’s betrayal. If he could make it to his– _Sunggyu’s_ –knife, he’d have something to defend himself. He damn sure wasn’t going to let Dongwoo take him to his leaders without a fight. Woohyun glanced at the knife, then back to other man.

“Don’t even think about it, kid,” Dongwoo said, watching him carefully, knowing what Woohyun was obviously planning.

The ground trembled, but neither of them paid it any heed. Woohyun felt a rush of adrenaline go through him as he counted to three in his head.

_One._ He swallowed the lump in the throat.

_Two._ The nervousness bubbled in the pit of his stomach.

_Three._ He only had one chance.

Woohyun lunged for the knife, Dongwoo doing the same. They clashed into each other, landing on the ground with a thud. Woohyun gritted his teeth as he landed on his side, pain blossoming from the bruise on his ribs, but he shook it off as he scampered after the knife.

Dongwoo grunted as he reached out and grabbed Woohyun by the legs, wrenching him back to the floor. Woohyun kicked the second-in-command of INFINITE, attempting to loosen the grip on his legs. The brunet landed a hit on the other’s face, but that didn’t stop. Dongwoo dug his nails into Woohyun’s shins, pulling the younger closer to him. Woohyun rolled onto his back and quickly bent his leg, kneeing Dongwoo in the stomach. The latter finally released him, the wind being knocked out of him. He wrapped his arms around his middle, wheezing.

Woohyun hobbled to his feet, rushing to the knife. When he picked it up, he swiftly turned around, holding it with both hands. His breathing was labored, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He ignored the pain in his chest. He took a couple of steps back, the squelch of his feet in Sungjong’s blood echoed in the room.

Dongwoo used the table in the middle of the room as a clutch as he stood up. His right arm stayed wrapped around his middle as the other pulled his gun out of his holster, aiming it at Woohyun. “I won’t hesitate to shoot you,” he barked, his eyes wide, flashing with rage.

“Do it,” Woohyun spat. “I’d rather die than be used by your people and to continue this pain being inflicted upon the citizens of South Hallow!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How can you call yourself the second-in-command of INFINITE, fight side-by-side with these people, with Sunggyu, _with Sungjong_ , call them your family, and claim to be fighting for the greater good only to stab them in the fucking back.”

“I have my reasons, and it’s none of your fucking business!”

“You’re a piece of shit, you know that, Dongwoo?!”

Dongwoo snorted but gave no response. He cocked the barrel of his pistol, his eyes trained on the younger. Woohyun swallowed thickly, but he didn’t back down. He was tired of being weak in front of everyone. He was tired of being at the constant mercy of his friends and enemies alike.

He wasn’t afraid of Dongwoo. If he got shot, he got shot. There’d be nothing he could do about it. The only thing he can do is to get out, warn the others before it was too late. Hopefully there was still _others_ to warn.

“Come with me, and I won’t shoot you,” Dongwoo urged.

“I won’t repeat myself.”

And at that moment, the lights completely shut off, submerging the room into darkness yet again.

Woohyun held his breath; everything grew quiet. He reached out, trying to grasp onto whatever he can to help gather his bearings. He blinked and blinked, trying to adjust to the darkness, but it didn’t help. The ground began to tremble again, and he lost his footing, falling backwards. He felt his back become drenched in what could only be Sungjong’s blood.

The brunet gasped in shock, scrambling to his feet, scrambling to get away from his dear friend’s body, but another body collided into his. He cried out in pain as he and other crashed into the wall behind. He heard the other– _Dongwoo_ –grunt in discomfort.

Woohyun gripped the knife still in hand painfully, wildly swinging out in front of him. He felt he made contact with Dongwoo, but that didn’t deter the other from straddling him and landing a couple of jabs to his face. He felt blood oozing down his face, and it was suddenly difficult to breathe through his nose. The brunet ignored the pain in his face and wriggled under Dongwoo, attempting–failing–to get the other off of him.

In a last ditched effort, Woohyun swung the knife upwards. The moment he made contact with the other, the lights flickered back on, but instead of a bright, white light blinding him, the room was painted in an alarming red.

And Dongwoo gave a guttural scream.

Woohyun staggered to his feet and watched as Dongwoo scurried off of him, clutching his face. The brunet could see blood gushing between the crevices of his fingers.

“You fucker!” Dongowoo screamed, utter and complete agony laced in his voice. He stood up. His hands moved away from his face, and Woohyun could see a ghastly gash going across his face. It started from his lower lip, angling up and through his right eye, ending at his hairline. Blood smothered his face, dripping to the floor in gushing puddles. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” He bellowed, blood pooling out of his split lip. He raised his gun.

His hand swayed in front of him, but that didn’t dissuade him from pulling the trigger. Even with being blinded in one eye, his accuracy was deadly and on point, and it didn’t even register in Woohyun’s mind why the front of his shirt turned a darker shade of red than the blood of Sungjong’s on him. It didn’t register as he was forced backwards into the wall, his foot bumping into Sungjong’s head.

The agonizing bullet wound in his shoulder did not register.

He was paralyzed by the grotesque image of what was left of Dongwoo’s face, which was essentially split in half from how deep Woohyun’s knife cut him open. He dropped the knife in his hand in shock. Dongwoo took an unsteady step forward, pulling the trigger again. This time it barely missed, lodging in the wall next to his head.

He pulled the trigger again.

Missing again.

Repeating over and over again that he’ll kill him, and Woohyun couldn’t help the tears that trickled down his face, mourning over what he had done to his _friend_.

Dongwoo took another step forward, his gun lowered, and he pulled the trigger again. The bullet wedged into the ground by Woohyun’s foot.

“I–I–I–” Dongwoo collapsed to his knees, the gun falling from his grasp. “…just w–wanted to… p–protect them…” His voice slurred. His left eye– _his good eye_ –blinked at Woohyun, pain and suffering flashing in them.

Woohyun covered his mouth, muffling the sob that erupted from him. This isn’t what he wanted. None of this. The other may had been one of the traitors and _killed_ Sungjong, but this isn’t what he wanted to happen. Not like this.

“My parents…” Dongwoo croaked. He raised his hand, arm outstretched, reaching for Woohyun before falling forward into the ground. His body laid still in puddle of his own blood.

Woohyun felt vile bubble up his throat before he himself collapsed to the ground, puking out nothing but blood and spit. When nothing more would come out, he felt the dry-heaves starting. He couldn’t take his eyes off of what he had done. He tried to reach out for Dongwoo, but the moment he did, an electrifying pain shot up his arm. With his left hand, he clutched his right shoulder, feeling blood ooze from the wound. He didn’t even realize he was shot. His entire arm ached, throbbing in agony with any little movement he made with it.

He ignored the pain that continue to shoot up his arm as he stumbled to his feet, never taking his eyes off of Dongwoo. He had to go. He had to find Sunggyu.

Sunggyu needed to know what happened.

His heart ached at the thought of telling him. He knew he would be devastated. No, he’d be more than that.

Woohyun tore his eyes away from the dead body of someone he had considered family and picked up his knife, avoiding looking at the remains of Sungjong.

The ground trembled again, and this time it didn’t stop, and the red, harsh, glaring emergency lights made it hard to make out where the door was. He leaned against the wall, feeling his way around the room till he felt the doorknob and the metal hinges of the interrogation room’s door. He wiped his face, feeling blood and tears smear across it.

Woohyun opened the door, only to come face-to-face with a pitch-dark hallway. With no longer being shut in the room, the sounds of what sounded like a _war_ could be heard from all around. Gunshots reverberated off the walls, screams and cries for help came from every direction.

Where was Sunggyu? Was he alright?

Woohyun had to find him, quick.

With the knife in his right hand and his left pressed against his wounded shoulder, Woohyun staggered down the hall into what some would consider a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been over a year, and no amount of excuses can make up for not updating this. I'm sorry.


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